A rose for you
by hyugaheiress
Summary: Valentines Day is coming up & the Konoha traditon is to confess your love by giving a red rose to your crush.They can either accept it, & give u a rd rose back, or a yellow rose signigfying just friends. Will Sasuke find the courage to give one to Hinata?
1. Sasukekun

**Note: The rookie nine is all 15 and Gai's team is 16. This is after Sasuke comes back to Konoha. Also, Hinata has lost her stuttering habit because I think that since it has been 3 years she would have eventually grown out of it.**

Disclaimer: Sigh... I don't own naruto, if I did I wouldn't be writing here and sakura would've been killed off in the series.

Sasuke: finally… She dies! smirks

hugaheiress: wow...that's harsh Sasuke ….but funny! (Muahahaha)

**Sasuke-kun**

Chapter one

Sasuke was walking in the village after a morning of hard training. Ever since he left Orochimaru he realized he had gotten stronger, he was only holding Sasuke back. Fortunately after he killed Orochimaru with his own technique he had found scrolls hidden by Kabuto. It contained information on how to remove the curse mark so with the help of Tsunade he was a free man!

"Sasuke-KUNNNNN! Over here Sasuke-KUNN!" a girl screeched.

He hadn't even enjoyed a minute of silence when all of a sudden he felt like his eardrums were about to burst from all the screeching. He turned around and saw a pack of wild beasts trailing him. (My bad…it was a pack of girls…ha-ha)

It was a week before Valentines Day and Sasuke dreaded this time of year. He would get stalked, well more than usual, and get bombarded by girls, again more than usual. Whenever he wanted to go somewhere he had to run out of his house because girls would hurl presents at him. It was a rare occasion when he would get at least five minutes of peace this time of year and whenever that happened he was grateful.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Please be my boyfriend!" one girl yelled.

"Get away from him you freak! He's mine! Isn't that right Sasuke-kun?" a red haired girl screamed.

Sasuke just ignored them and kept walking. He really hated all his stupid fan girls, and he was glad that forehead girl and the blonde-haired blue eyed kunoichi had given up on him and moved on. They were the most annoying.

"Sasuke-KUNNNNN!" the girls screeched in unison.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you going to get me fore Valentines Day!" one brunette demanded rather than asked.

Sasuke was getting tired of hearing their shrill voices. His felt like his head was about to explode and was annoyed that these girls stalked him almost everyday. One time he even caught them starring at him while he was sleeping, in his own bedroom! After that incident he made sure the premises of the Uchiha compound were always secure.

"Sasuke-kun! You're so strong!" the blonde said while caressing his arm.

That's it, he had it. There was only one girl that he wanted to touch him like that. And that girl was definitely none of these freaks._She _was a beauty among girls. These stalkers were just freaks among freaks.

Sasuke turned towards the girls with his signature cold-expressionless face. His onyx eyes bore into the girls with such intensity that if enemy ninjas were to approach they would cower in fear.

"Listen up you stalkers; I'm going to say this once and only once. Stay the hell away from me. I don't like any of you and I will NEVER like any of you!" He then gave them a look that could kill and man, if looks could kill they would all be dead on the spot. He then turned around and walked off.

The girls just stood there confused as to why THEIR Sasuke-kun would say something like that.

"But Sasuke-kun, I thou-"

Sasuke had turned his head towards the girls, sharingan activated, and with a harsh monotone voice uttered "If you ever touch me like that again, I'll break your fingers one by one."

This made the girls shudder at the thought knowing that he would really hurt them.

Sasuke smirked at their reactions and with that walked off to find a certain lavender-eyed brunette.

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**Please don't forget to leave reviews… that way I can continue writing. NO flames please. This is my first shot at writing a fic so I know it isn't that good but I hope to get better. I know this chapie was short but the next one will be long..promise.**

Hinata: when am I going to appear?

hyugaheiress: next chapter ok…I think

Sasuke: hurry up and write…and don't put that baka naruto in the story.

Hyugaheiress: well I can't hurry up and write...it all depends on the reviews…I need at least five

Sasuke: hmp…


	2. Exhyugaheiress

**Note: The rookie nine is all 15 and Gai's team is 16. This is after Sasuke comes back to Konoha. Also, in my fic Hinata has lost her stuttering habit because I think that since it has been 3 years she would have eventually grown out of it. Also, my story does not follow the manga it is purely out of my imagination.**

**_THANKS for all the reviews guys. I got 11 more than I originally thought I was going to get. I got 16 reviews -tears of joy- so I decided to add another chapter immediately as a thank you.- hugs everyone -_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I do own Sasuke…just playing…if only it were true.

Hinata: Finally I come out! Yeay!

hyugaheiress: Yup you do…it's all about you now

Neji: -cough-

hyugaheiress: oh…right…and the Hyuga prodigy.

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**Ex-hyugaheiress**

Chapter two

"Hmm…do I need milk?" Hinata checked off the items on her list. Now that she lived alone she had to go grocery shopping for herself instead of depending on the Hyuga maids.

The day Hinata turned 15 she was disowned and lost the title of Hyuga heiress. On that same day she was kicked off the Hyuga premises since she refused to be branded and be a part of the branch family. Thanks to Tsunade she was able to prevent the branding from happening even if it cost her to be kicked out of the Hyuga manor.

_--------------flash back-------------_

_Bang! Bang!_

"_Huh? What's going on?" yawned Hinata._

"_Hinata-sama! Hinata-sama! Wake up!" Neji was banging on the door and was about to knock it down when Hinata opened up._

"_What is it yawn Neji-nii-san?"_

"_Hurry up! You have to come down Hinata-sama."_

"_What…what is it? Did something happen?" Hinata started trembling. She had a feeling something bad was going to happen._

"_It is about your status as Hyuga heiress."_

"_What. What do you mean?" Then it hit her. "Hanabi!"_

"_Yeah…she finally convinced the elders." Uttered Neji._

_Hinata followed Neji downstairs toward the Hyuga meeting place. She stood in front of the door not daring to go in. She reached for the doorknob but stopped in midair. _

'_She looks really pale…and she can's stop trembling…she can't even open the door! Ughhh…why did the Hyuga's have to be cruel. It was their fault that I had hostility towards Hinata-sama during the chunin exam…that's why…I have to protect her…at all costs and' Neji was interrupted from his thoughts by a deep harsh voice._

"_Come in already! And have a seat!" Hiashi hollered through the door. He had activated his byakugan and seen Hinata._

_Hinata stood frozen for a moment. Her father's voice had sent chills down her spine. All of a sudden she felt a nudge from behind._

"_Go ahead Hinata-sama. I'll come in with you and make sure nothing happens."_

"_Arigato nii-san." Hinata was glad to have Neji. He was her only friend in the Hyuga compound and would always look out for her. After Neji had lost against Naruto he had changed his ways. He was still cold hearted at times but he would smile more often. _

_Neji realized he shouldn't have taken out his anger on Hinata for what the head family was doing because Hinata was the real person that was being wronged. Luckily Hinata had forgiven him for what had happened at the chunin exams._

"_Go on Hinata-sama."_

_Hinata nodded and opened the door. She walked straight towards the chair in the middle of the room, ignoring everyone's stares._

_The whole clan was there. The head family was on the right side of the room and the branch family on the left. The Elders and Hyuga leader Hiashi were sitting in the front of the room._

"_Sit," ordered Hiashi. _

_Neji headed towards the left side of the room keeping a close distance from Hinata._

"_Hinata-san, you know why we have called you here," said an Elder?_

_Hinata nodded. _

"_You have proven to be an unworthy heiress to lead this clan to greatness."_

_Hinata felt her heart clutch tight. She avoided looking at her father directly in the eyes._

"_Even you sister Hanabi has surpassed your abilities and she is five years your junior. You have been nothing but a burden and disgrace to our clan." Hiashi calmly and unemotionally stated._

_Neji clutched his fist to his right. The branch family knew what was going to happen and they actually felt sorry for the girl. The branch family didn't hate Hinata just her father and cocky know it all little sister. _

"_As we agreed, if you did not improve after you became a genin then you would be disowned. Even after you did not improve we gave you another chance but you STILL failed. My patience has worn thin with you and especially after you lost in the chunin exams… to a branch member none the less!" Hiashi was starting to loose his temper. _

"_Since you have failed both times you are unfit to be heiress, so as of today you are no longer heiress to the Hyuga Clan. Hanabi is now the rightful heiress and as for you…you will now be part of the branch family," said Hiashi._

'_What! No that means she…' thought Neji._

"_And since you are a part of the branch family now, you will be branded with the 'caged bird' as everyone else is."_

"_What!" that was the only thing that Hinata had managed to say during the meeting. She looked around to see if anybody was going to say it was all a joke but all she saw was Hanabi smirking._

"_You can't! That's not fair!" yelled Neji._

"_No one said life was fair kid," stated an Elder._

'_No I can't let them do this to me…I just CAN"T!' "No!" yelled Hinata._

_Everyone turned towards Hinata. Shocked that she had yelled at them._

"_I refuse to be branded with that stupid family curse!"_

'_Oh-no this is going to get ugly' Neji thought. He leaned next to a branch member and whispered, "Hurry up and go get Tsunade-sama. We have to stop this."_

_The man snuck out while everyone was occupied with Hinata. _

"_What did you say you brat!" yelled and Elder._

"_I said I refuse to be branded and let this stupid clan run my life!"_

_Neji couldn't contain his smirk. Ever since Neji started training Hinata she had gained confidence and had even managed to stop stuttering._

"_I'm glad you disowned me…I wouldn't want to be a part of a clan that could never amount to greatness because all the greatness lies within the branch family! You all are just afraid of their true power!" Hinata couldn't believe what she was saying. She had never lost her temper and surely not to the Elders no matter how much they deserved it or how bad they treated her. But this time the clan had gone too far._

"_That is enough Hinata!" screamed Hiashi trying to contain his anger._

"_You all are ju-" _

_SLAP! Hiashi had struck Hinata across the face._

"_Leave her alone. As a matter of fact she was just telling the truth." Neji calmly and coolly (might I add) stated even though he had been shot death glares by the main family._

"_Seize her and take care of the boy!" Hiashi ordered. _

_Some head family members grabbed Hinata and forced her down on her knees._

"_Leave her alone you bastards!" All of a sudden Neji felt a blow to his stomach. He was hit by one of the Elder's sons._

_Hiashi approached Hinata ready to brand her. "Just accept your fate." Hiashi stated as if nothing had happened._

"_No! You can't…let me go!" Hinata struggled to get away._

"_Aghh…you little bitch…you bit me!" yelled the man._

_Hinata kicked and screamed but to no avail. She felt tears roll down her cheeks and started shaking. She stared sobbing and bit her lip to try to quiet her crying._

_This was really going to happen…she was going to be branded and she couldn't do anything about it._

"_Hiashi-sama, do it now," said one the man that was holding Hinata ._

_Hiashi leaned in towards Hinata's forehead when…_

_BANG!_

"_Hold it right there!" Tsunade screamed. She had knocked down the door along with Shizune and two ANBU. _

"_Hok…Hokage-sama…what are you doing here?" Hiashi stated._

"_What am **I **doing here!" Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "The question is what are **you** doing there!"_

"_I was just about to…"_

"_Save it…I know what you were about to do." Tsunade interrupted._

"_Then why did you ask him?" Shizune questioned._

"_It was for dramatic affect! Duh!" said Tsunade._

_Hinata just sat there…dumbfounded as to what was happening. _

_Neji felt relieved when he saw Tsunade._

"_This is enough Hiashi-sama. I have managed to stay quiet about your clan's tradition and not intervene since it is none of my business but you are going to far this time. Hinata-san is a good kid. She doesn't deserve to go through this." _

"_But she is unfit to be heiress. If we let her be without being branded she could jeopardize the clan." Hiashi was starting to loose his patience with Tsunade._

"_Well, that's just a risk I am willing to take…besides I will make sure she is fine…we will just have to take extra precautions when she goes on missions." Tsunade calmly stated._

"_But wh--," said Hiashi_

"_Sigh…well now that this is settled I can have a drink…Shizune where is my sake?"_

"_You drank it all this morning when you were supposed to be working!"_

"_What! That's awful!" Tsunade screamed._

"_I know… you didn't get any work done!" Shizune said while rubbing her temple._

"_No, not that, who cares about that…I'm talking about the sake…it's an emergency!...send our top ANBU to buy me more sake immediately!" demanded Tsunade. _

_Hiashi couldn't contain himself anymore. "Fine! But since she refused to be branded she can not stay here! Hinata you have until midnight to clear the premises or else!" Hiashi turned toward the back doors and walked off along with the Elders._

_Hinata was still on the floor trembling. She couldn't believe what had happened. Hot tears started rolling down her cheeks and her breathing became deeper. 'I…don't want to leave…even though I was treated terrible…and ignored…this is still my home…and I have no where else to go.' Hinata broke out into tears. She didn't care who saw anymore._

'_Hinata-sama.' Neji walked over to Hinata and leaned down towards her. "Don't worry Hinata-sama everything is going to be all right."_

_All of a sudden Hinata grabbed on to Neji and buried her face into his chest. Neji did not know how to react to this…he had never comforted anyone. He gently put his hand on her back. _

_Sob…sob… 'I ...I'm so scarred.' Hinata was crying all over Neji's shirt. When she realized this she quickly pushed him away. "Gomen nii-san"_

_Neji just smiled and took her in an embrace. "It is okay…cry if you need to…you are like my little sister and I promise to protect you."_

_-------------end of flashback------------_

That was a month and a half ago. And after she was kicked out she had no where to go. She had never been on her own before so she was scared to death. Luckily Ino's parents allowed her to stay with them until Hinata had a place of her own. Hinata was grateful she had a best friend like Ino who always looked out for her.

Two weeks later Neji had managed to find her a suitable apartment. Fortunately had saved the money she received for allowance when she was still heiress. She was a wise spender so she had enough to put a down payment and pay for six moths rent.

"Hmmm…I think that is all I need." Hinata said aloud while paying her groceries. "I wish Neji-nii-san was here to help me carry these."

Sometimes Neji would help her with the groceries but today he was on a mission. Neji was the only Hyuga who still talked to Hinata.

Sasuke was still trying to look for a certain ex-Hyuga heiress. He finally spotted her. She was trying to figure out how to carry all her groceries. Sasuke took advantage of this opportunity and walked off to where Hinata was.

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**Please don't forget to leave reviews… that way I can continue writing. This was longer than the first chapter…like I promised remember…and I know it didn't have any SasukexHinata moments but I promise there will be some in the next chapter. I just wanted to show where Hinata was coming from and explain as to why she is no longer heiress, which, ties into Hanabi who will have a minor/major role in the story…but you'll just have to wait and see. **

_For the people that requested sakurabashing…I will manage to sneak some bashing in somewhre so don't worry._

Hinata: My life is so sad.-tear-

hyugaheiress: don't worry it gets better. -winks- Right Sasuke?

Sasuke: well it would have been better if I was in this chapter.

Neji: yeah right Uchiha…I totally kicked ass.

hyugaheiress: anyways…

Hinata: yeah anyways please review and make my life better.


	3. Admiration

**Note: This chapter is still a background chapter about the characters but to make up for it I made this chapter longer than the others and also included a SasukexHinata moment. Also please read the bottom note because I will have a pole.**

_**Thanks for all the reviews guys. I really appreciate it because it motivates me to continue writing. So keep them coming guys.**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but if I did Neji would have won against Naruto during the chunin exams and would have never hated Hinata, just Hanabi.

Ino: When do I come out? And when is Sasuke going to actually talk to Hinata!

hyugaheiress: Don't worry, you come out in this chapter and as for our loveable couple, well they are for sure going to interact in this chapter.

Ino: hells yeah! Finally!

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**Admiration**

Chapter 3

Sasuke slowly made his way towards Hinata, carefully making sure he didn't attract any attention to himself. If he did then his fan girls would surely ruin his moment with Hinata.

Sasuke had liked Hinata ever since they were just little kids. The first time he met her was when the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan got together to discuss matters of business. She had been wearing a pink and purple flower designed Kimono and had greeted Sasuke with a big smile.

Sasuke didn't get to see her often though; the only time was when his family would go over to the Hyuga Compound so his father could talk to Hiashi. On one of their visits he had seen Hinata and Itachi sitting together in the garden while their fathers just watched in amusement. Hinata would giggle at whatever Itachi would say while Itachi himself joined in on some occasions. Sasuke had felt a surge of jealousy overwhelm him and at that instant he realized that he had a crush on Hinata. After that Sasuke would always try to persuade his father into visiting the Hyuga compound.

During the academy years Sasuke would pray he would get assigned in the same class as Hinata. One year his prayer was answered and got into the same class with her, unfortunately it was the same year he got Sakura in his class as well. Sasuke would always try to talk to hyugaheiress but whenever he got the chance his fan girls, especially forehead girl, would get in the way.

After his family was slaughtered by Itachi, Sasuke had forgotten about trying to talk to Hinata and focused on seeking revenge and killing his brother. But, in the corner of his mind he always thought about the porcelain skinned beauty.

Hinata was struggling with the three brown grocery bags. They were quite heavy.

"Hmmm…maybe I should…no but the bag would just rip that way." Hinata said aloud.

As Sasuke walked closer towards Hinata he seemed to be getting nervous. 'What the hell! Why am I getting nervous? After all I'm THE Sasuke Uchiha' he thought. No matter how much he told himself that it did not seem to work. Sasuke hadn't had a real conversation with her since the dobe started dating the slut. (By slut I mean Sakura and you'll find out why she is a slut. Although many of you I know don't need a reason to think that. Ha-ha)

---------------_Flash back----------_

_Sob. Sob. Hinata was crying her little eyes out near a tree at her favorite training ground. _

_Earlier that day…_

_After doing some morning training with Kiba and Shino they had decided to call it a day. Team 8 was going to meet Ino's team for lunch at the Korean Bar-B-Q restaurant since Choji had insisted on it. _

_As team 8 made their way towards restaurant a certain fox boy came up to them in an overly excited mood._

"_Hey guys, have you seen Sakura-Chan!"_

"_Um...um…Hi Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly. In fact she said it so quietly that no one heard her. Except Shino that is._

"_Huh? What did you say Hinata? I couldn't hear you." Naruto said rather loudly._

_Hinata blushed and turned her head quickly to avoid Naruto's gaze. _

"_She said she hasn't seen Sakura. Now can you get out of the way because you're blocking the way to the restaurant!" Kiba noted._

"_That's not what she said," Shino stated coolly._

_All of a sudden team 8 saw hands cover Naruto's eyes from behind. "Guess who?" asked Sakura while trying to say it in a seductive voice. It didn't work though, her voice just sounded like a dog dying._

"_Sakura-Chan! I was looking everywhere for you. I thought that you had forgotten about our date." Naruto said while hugging her._

"_Did he just say _**date**?_!" a flabbergasted Kiba asked._

_Hinata felt her heart start beating at a faster rate. It felt as though it was about to burst from her chest. 'This can't be true…are they really going out on a date?'_

"_What do you mean on a date?" Kiba inquired._

"_Sakura-chan is my girlfriend now! Can you believe it!"_

"_I decided to give up on Sasuke-kun and move on with my life. Just like Ino has done." Sakura stated while giving them a fake smile. She didn't like Kiba or team 8 for that matter. Sakura looked at all three of them over skeptically and her eyes suddenly fell on Hinata._

_Hinata was busy mentally scolding herself for not telling Naruto how she felt sooner to even notice Sakura's gaze._

'_Humph. How pathetic. I can see why the Hyuga's disowned her. Wait! Doesn't she have a crush on Naruto? Huh, this is going to be fun. CHA!' Sakura suddenly grabbed Naruto and pulled him into a deep intimate kiss._

_Kiba and Shino's jaws dropped down to the floor, well mainly kibas', partly because it grossed him out. Hinata just stood there shocked. She felt tears starting to form in her eyes and her vision started to become blurry._

_Sakura was still kissing naruto and out of the corner of her eyes she could see the Hyuga's reaction. _

_Sakura mentally laughed and kissed the baka even more._

_Hinata saw this as tears started rolling down her cheeks. She quickly turned around so no one could see._

_At that moment Ino came out of the restaurant. "Hey guys, there you are. We've been waiting for over ten minutes." She noticed the expression Kiba had and turned towards what he was gawking at. "What the fu…"_

_She saw Naruto and Sakura making out and quickly turned toward Hinata. "Hinata-chan are you o--."_

_Hearing her name, Hinata ran off toward the training grounds._

"_Hinata-chan wait!" yelled Ino_

_Sakura had seen Hinata run off so she finally broke away from the kiss._

"_Wow! Sakura-chan I--." Naruto was cut off._

"_Hey Ino-pig, what are you doing here! Don't tell me you're jealous of me and my new boyfriend." Sakura screeched._

"_Don't make me gag bill board brow. Why would I be jealous of you and that baka? As a matter of fact my man is way better!" Just as Ino was about to run off after the ex-hyugaheiress she was stopped by Sakura's comment._

"_Humph. She is so pathetic. No wonder she was disowned. I can't see why Tsunade-sama bothers to teach her medical ninjutsu since Hinata will never amount to anything. She is such a freak an—Aghh!"_

_Ino had punched Sakura right in the face. Kiba burst out laughing and Shino couldn't help but smirk since Sakura had fallen backwards onto a pile of turd that Kakashi's dog, Paku, had left. _

"_You bitch; you shouldn't be calling people freaks since you're the biggest freak in all of Konoha. And if I ever catch you saying anything mean about my best friend again I'll beat the crap out of you!" And with that she ran off to search for Hinata._

_Sakura was still on the floor, fists clutched tight, with eyes full of anger._

"_Who the hell…left this…" she looked at her clothing. It was covered in brown smelly poop. "Naruto do something about this quickly!" screeched Sakura._

_Naruto tried to help Sakura up but she slipped on the turd and fell face first into the shit._

_Kiba and Shino just stared on in amusement._

"_Don't just stand there!" Naruto hollered. "Help her out!"_

"_No thanks. I don't help skanks covered in turd. I'd rather pick up the shit that Paku left behind than touch that pink haired monster." Kiba said rather loudly so people could overhear._

_Bystanders nearby turned towards Sakura and burst out laughing. She noticed people snickering and could faintly hear her name included in the conversations. Sakura was so embarrassed that she quickly got up and ran off dragging Naruto behind her._

_Hinata meanwhile was by a tree crying her little eyes out. 'How can Sakura like Naruto? Before, she was so obsessed with Sasuke to even notice Naruto' Hinata replayed the image of the kiss in her head. She couldn't contain her sadness and disappointment in anymore and broke down crying. _

_Poor Hinata. This was just not her week. She had been disowned three days ago and now this. What else could go wrong?_

_Sasuke was training near by when just then he heard someone crying. He ignored it and continued to pound a training post. It went on for 5 minutes before Sasuke got annoyed and decided to see who it was. This infuriated him because whoever it was was disrupting his training._

_He followed the crying. It seemed to get louder and louder as he neared a path that led to another training post nearby. As he walked down the path he suddenly froze on the spot. It was Hinata. She was sitting on the roots of a tree. Sasuke felt a tint of happiness when he saw her but it soon faded when he realized that she was the person that was crying._

'_Why is she crying? Did someone hurt her?' Sasuke thought as anger started to rise within him. Just the thought of someone hurting his Hinata angered him to no ends. _

_Then it hit him. He had seen Sakura and Naruto holding hands earlier that day. 'I guess she knows about forehead girl and the dobe dating.'_

_Sasuke approached Hinata who didn't even sense his presence since she was in her own little world. "Why are you crying over that dobe?" Sasuke stated in his usual cold manner._

_Hinata froze. She knew that voice, it was Sasuke Uchiha. 'What does he want? Did he come here to laugh at me?' Hinata looked up at Sasuke. _

_Her lavender eyes were full of tears and her long silky hair was plastered all over her face. Even though she was a mess she still looked pretty._

'_Wow. She looks so beautiful.' Sasuke, of course, could never say it aloud to Hinata…at least not yet. "You know that dobe isn't worth crying over." _

"_He's not a dobe." Hinata replied back while keeping her gaze on Sasuke._

"_Can I ask you a question?"_

_Hinata did not answer. She just sat there looking up at Sasuke._

_Sasuke took that as a yes. "Why do you like him?"_

_Hinata finally broke away from staring at Sasuke and put her head down. Hair fell to her face as she starred intently at the ground._

"_Because…well…he…" 'Wait, I can't think of anything. Why **do **I like him?' Sasuke's question had stumped her. She had always liked naruto but she never had a reason as to why._

"_Well…why do you like him?" Sasuke asked impatiently._

"_I don't know." Hinata said while scrambling her brain for a reason as to why she liked the blonde. She could feel Sasuke staring at her, still waiting for an answer. A slight knot rose in her stomach and her crying had ceased completely. _

"_Judging by your silence, it seems you never actually liked him in the first place," Sasuke noted._

"_Wait, I did like him."_

"_**Did**?"_

"_I mean, I do like him…because he makes me feel like I can become stronger and when I watch him fight and overcome people's doubts…it inspires me to--."_

"_So" Sasuke interrupted "You **admire** him."_

'_Admire?' Hinata had never thought about that. Could all these years just have been admiration? Could she have foolishly mistaken admiration for love?_

_Suddenly Hinata felt her stomach lighten. 'I…I don't… like Naruto…I just admire him. All this time it was just that.' She lifted her face to look directly at Sasuke. "Arigato Uchiha-san, you are right. I just admire Naruto-kun." Hinata said while a smile formed on her lips. _

_Sasuke smiled inwardly. "By the way, don't call me Uchiha-san."_

_Hinata stood up, walked towards Sasuke, and surprised him with a hug. She had caught him off guard so he didn't get a chance to hug her back or even take in the moment before she backed away._

_Hinata bowed slightly and said, "Arigato Sasuke-san, you made me feel much better." A slight blush crossed her face since she had just realized what she had done. She had actually hugged Sasuke, Konoha's heart throb. She remained bowing so Sasuke couldn't see her flustered face._

_Sasuke felt a slight blush rise across his face as well but thankfully for him, Hinata was still bowing and did not notice._

_But little did he know that one person **did **notice. Ino had been listening to their entire conversation behind the bushes. When Ino had found Hinata by the tree she had ran towards her but stopped when she noticed Sasuke approaching Hinata as well. She decided to wait and see what he would do. _

'_Wow Sasuke, you cheered Hinata-chan up. Who knew you could be so caring and nice.' Ino thought while smiling. 'You did a better job than I would have done…I didn't even know that I was going to say.'_

_--------------End of flash back-----------_

Ever since their encounter they had become closer, well if you consider them saying hi to each other whenever they saw one another, Sasuke actually smiling at her at times, and Hinata addressing him by Sasuke-san, then they definitely are closer.

Sasuke stood behind Hinata before getting up the courage to talk. "It seems you need help."

"Huh?" Hinata turned around to see Sasuke. "Oh…Sasuke-san it's you."

"Do you need help?" Sasuke asked again like it was no big deal.

Hinata smiled and nodded. Sasuke got two bags from Hinata while she carried one. They walked in comfortable silence for about two minutes before she broke it. "So, Sasuke-san, how have you been?"

Sasuke smiled. "Not bad" His answer was short and sweet. He had wanted to ask her if she still "admired" naruto. Sakura had broken up with the baka and started dating Lee so Sasuke wanted to know if she would take advantage of that and tell that loser how she felt. That's if she liked him again.

"Do…Do you still like Naruto?"

Before Hinata could answer the naruto baka and his stooge Konohamaru popped out.

"Hey Sasuke bastard, what are you doing. Are you actually being nice and helping out someone!" The blonde screamed rather loudly.

'Ugh…you stupid baka. She was just about to tell me!' Sasuke glared at the dobe. "What. You act as if you've never seen me help anybody loser."

"Exactly, now you get what I'm saying."

"Naruto-san, Sasuke is a nice guy. I don't know why you doubt him. He offered to help me carry my groceries." Hinata added trying to avoid a fight between the two team members.

'Naruto-**SAN? **Since when did she stop calling him **KUN**? That means she doesn't like that loser anymore.' Sasuke felt his heart surge at the thought and couldn't help but smirk.

"Why the hell are you smirking Sasukebastard!" Naruto yelled.

"I got it!" Konohamaru stated. Everyone turned towards him. Sasuke hadn't even noticed he was still there. "It's true what Naruto says, I have never seen Sasuke be so nice. Since he is helping Hinata, who is a girl, with her groceries then there must be one logical reason" he stated while smiling. "You are one smooth operator Sasuke." He said while winking at Sasuke.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke questioned.

"I'm talking about her being your" Konohamaru lifts his pinky finger up "girlfriend."

Sasuke couldn't help but blush at the statement. He quickly turned around to avoid anyone seeing that.

Hinata's face had turned a deep scarlet and became rather flustered since Konohamaru kept waving his pinky in the air.

"WHAT! Sasuke and Hinata! There's no way. Hinata is too good for that cold hearted bastard" the fox boy screamed.

"Well, why else would Sasuke help her carry her groceries?" Konohamaru wondered.

Hinata had finally regained her composure although her cheeks sill held a slight blush. "No, it is not like that Konohamaru-san, I…we ….that is…are just friends."

"Yes, I get it now, it all makes sense now. You both are just friends." Konohamaru replied.

"WAIT, that can't be true either. Sasuke teme doesn't have any friends! And I should know since he is on the same team as me." Naruto interrupted.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke had gained his composure. Naruto's face was met with Sasuke's fist.

Naruto was left unconscious on the floor.

"Stupid dobe, I have plenty of friends." Sasuke stated coolly.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Konohamaru asked while poking the blonde with a stick.

All of a sudden they heard a loud trampling sound coming behind them. Sasuke turned to see what all the commotion was about. His eyes widened in horror as he saw a stampede of beasts coming there way. (My bad it was a stampede of fan girls.)

Naruto had been so loud earlier that it caused fan girls to notice their Sasuke-kun. The girls had quickly ordered an emergency meeting and decided they would try to give Sasuke valentine presents again.

"Sasuke-KUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" the girls screeched in unison as they made their way closer.

Sasuke quickly grabbed the two grocery bags with his left hand while grabbing Hinata by the waist with his right arm and moved out of the way.

Konohamaru quickly followed in pursuit.

"Huh? What's going on?" Naruto had finally regained consciousness. But unfortunately it was too late. The fan girls were inches from him so he ended up getting trampled by them.

The fan girls tore through the village since they didn't see their Sasuke-kun. He had hidden behind some nearby bushes along with Hinata and Konohamaru.

Sasuke still had his arm around Hinata's waist. "Um Sasuke-san, do you mind letting me go." Hinata asked as she blushed.

Sasuke blushed and quickly let her go. He hadn't even realized he still had his arm around Hinata.

"I think we should go check to see if Naruto-san is okay." Hinata stated.

They made their way back to where naruto laid on the floor.

"Oi, baka, are you still alive. Or is it too early to celebrate." Sasuke said while smirking.

"Sasuke bastard, how could you just leave me there!" the dobe yelled.

Just as Sasuke was about to make a rude remark, Hinata screamed.

"Oh no! Sasuke you only have two grocery bags. I accidentally left the bag when you saved me. It must have gotten trampled by your fan girls."

"No it didn't." Konohamaru interrupted. "I managed to save it before it got trampled" he grinned.

"Oh…what a relief…arigato Konohamaru-san." Hinata stated.

"WHATTTT!" Naruto interrupted this time. He pointed an accusing finger at Konohamaru. "You saved a stupid bag of groceries instead of saving **me! **How could you…what kind of friend are you!" Naruto yelped.

"Well, I thought you would get out of the way in time" Konohamaru replied.

"What kind of ninja are you baka. You couldn't even doge a simple thing as that." Sasuke smirked.

"What do you mean a simple thing as that…your fan girls are animals!"

Sasuke ignored Naruto and turned towards Hinata. "Are you okay?"

"Um…yeah I think so. Thank you for saving me Sasuke-san. I really appreciate it." She said smiling.

Before Sasuke could reply Hinata spoke once more. "Oh I almost forgot. I was supposed to meet Ino at her flower shop around noon. I was going to order some roses for Valentines Day."

Sasuke picked up the three grocery bags and walked off but stopped halfway. "Come on Hinata, I promised I would help you carry these and I keep my promises."

"Hai. I'm coming."

"Why so noble all of a sudden Sasuke bastard?" yelled the blonde

"You shouldn't be worrying about me dobe. You should worry about yourself. Don't you have a mission today or something?"

"Oh crap. I forgot I had a meeting with Tsunade-sama. She's going to be pissed." And with that ran off.

"What a loser." Sasuke coldly stated.

"Bye Konohamaru." Hinata stated while walking away and waving at him.

"Bye Hinata-san." Before they had completely walked off Konohamaru called to them. "Valentine roses huh?" and with that he lifted his pinky towards them and smiled. "Later guys!" Konohamaru added as he ran off in the opposite direction.

Hinata blushed while Sasuke just smirked.

"Come on Hinata. Let's go."

Hinata nodded and with that they made their way towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

Just then a familiar voice stopped them in their tracks. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

--------------------------------

**PLEASE don't forget to leave reviews… that way I can continue writing. I hope you liked the chapter. Also I managed to make the chapter longer for you people who requested it.**

**I'm taking a poll so please vote. Some people wanted Ino and Neji to be a couple. I had originally planned her to be a couple with Shikamaru but I decided to let you guys vote on it.**

**Ino and Shikamaru**

**Or**

**Neji and Ino**

Ino: Damn, Sakura is such a little -----

hyugaheiress: Well what did you expect…she did break up your friendship over a guy.

Ino: Well at least Hinata doesn't like that baka anymore. Anyways…I wonder who my boyfriend is going to be.

hyugaheiress: Yeah me too. I guess it all depends on the readers now.


	4. Roses

**Well my** **peeps the votes are in….and if you don't like the pairing then you should have voted. Anyways, the winner is –drum roll- Neji/Ino! It was close too; Neji/Ino got 10 votes while Shika/Ino got 8. Thanks for voting guys.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I do own this story and plot. 2 out of 3 isn't bad I guess._

Ino: -squeals- I can't believe Neji is my boyfriend!

hyugaheiress: lucky you!

Ino: He is so freaking hot!

hyugaheiress: Aww! Neji has a new gf.

Neji: I knew I would win. –smirks-

hyugaheiress: that means we get to see Neji blush in later chapters! Yeay!

Neji:….

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**Roses**

Chapter 4

Roses are red, violets are blue, Sakura's a whore, and Hanabi too. –lol…I just had to say that.

Roses are red, violets are blue, Sasuke loves Hinata, does she love him too?-sorry about this…I just thought of it right now. It was just for fun.

Ok…and now for the real story…..

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" a familiar voice rang out. Familiar to Hinata that is.

Hinata froze, not daring to turn around. Sasuke on the other hand quickly turned around. He was starting to get pissed since every time he was alone with Hinata someone would interfere.

Sasuke had completely turned around and faced the person. "Who the hell are y--?"

Before Sasuke could even finish his sentence the person had grabbed on to his arm.

She was about ten years old with jet black hair and pale skin. Her eyes were a lavender color while her face showed hard features.

"Sasuke-kun! Where have you been!" yelled the girl.

'Her eyes…their just like…judging by her eyes she must be a…' "What do you want Hyuga." Sasuke asked in the harshest voice he could muster.

"Hanabi, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked while still not turning around.

"None of your business, besides I'm not here to see you big sister." Hanabi shot back while sticking her tongue out. She was still holding on to Sasuke as if her life depended on it.

Hinata didn't even have to turn around to know that Hanabi was sticking her tongue out at her. She knew her sister could be bratty.

"You're sister!" Sasuke blurted out. He never knew Hinata even had a younger sister. 'But how can they be related? They don't look anything alike. Hinata looks so sweet and her sister doesn't'

"Yeah, can you believe it? I'm clearly the much better looking one though." Hanabi responded while she snuggled on Sasuke's arm.

Hinata had finally turned around but just stood there quiet not responding to Hanabi's statement. 'Wow, I didn't know Hanabi was a fan girl…man I'm getting hungry.' She thought.

'Why is she just standing there? She doesn't think I like this freak does she?' thought Sasuke. He quickly shoved Hanabi aside. "Come on Hinata let's go."

Just as he was about to take a step Hanabi stopped him by clinging to his arm.

"What the hell" 'What did Hinata say her sisters' name was…I think it was…' "Let go of me Havabu" Sasuke hissed.

"Oh Sasuke-kun….stop kidding. You know that my name is Hanabi. You are such a kidder."

"Who's kidding? I don't even know who the hell you are so leave me alone psycho!"

"I'm Hanabi Hyuga, heiress to the Hyuga Clan" she stated confidently.

"You're the Heiress?" Sasuke questioned

"Yeah, after the loser over there" she pointed at Hinata "failed she was disowned. How great is that! Now you and I both are heirs to prestige's clans and since we are both heirs we belong together!" she squealed. Hanabi was so excited that she started caressing his arm.

"Stop touching me" an irritated Sasuke coldly stated.

Hinata just kept on watching Hanabi practically throw herself at Sasuke. When she saw Hanabi caress his arm she felt a tint of jealousy, however Hinata didn't realize what she felt was jealousy. 'Why is Hanabi caressing his arm? Why do I have the sudden urge to push her away from him...Wait, what am I thinking!'

The porcelain skinned beauty was suddenly interrupted from her thoughts by another familiar voice.

"Hanabi! What are you doing! Stop playing around! I've been looking everywhere for you, you know we were supposed to be back at the Hyuga Compound an hour ago." The young angry boy yelled.

It was none other than our winner: Neji Hyuga.

"I wasn't playing around. I was just spending some time with my boyfriend." Hanabi yelled not letting go of Sasuke's arm.

"I'm not your damn boyfriend" Sasuke hissed making sure Hinata overheard.

"Stop running away, I just got back from a mission and I'm tired so I don't feel like chasing after you."

"Like I care" Hanabi shot back.

Neji clutched his fist while resisting the urge to hurt her.

"Nii-san why are you here?" Hinata interrupted.

"Huh?" Neji turned towards Hinata. "Oh, hi Hinata-sama." He made his way towards the ex-hyugaheiress until he stood directly in front of her.

"I thought you were on a mission Neji-nii-san?"

"I was but I finished early."

"So why are you spending you're free time with Hanabi instead of Ino?" Hinata questioned.

"You're acting as if I had a choice. As soon as I got home Hiashi made me escort Hanabi around town. You know it has always been my job to protect the hyugaheiress and since Hanabi is the heiress now…I have to protect her" Neji grudgingly stated.

"Right, I forgot about your duty. Did you even get a chance to eat and rest before you escorted her around town. You look tired."

"Nope, I'm hungry and so tired. And worse, that little brat keeps running off without warning. If something were to happen to her Hiashi would have my head. Ever since you were disowned it's been work, Hanabi, work, Hanabi. I don't get any time to relax or see Ino. Ugh…. And worst of all she never stops talking! Sasuke this… and Sasuke that… It's annoying! Ever since she accidentally bumped into him she's been obsessed with the Uchiha."

Sasuke had heard his name in the conversation so he had tried to ease drop, but a certain Hyuga was making it difficult. The raven haired shinobi was still fighting off his crazy fan girl that was trying to hold his hand.

"Oh, that explains why Hanabi is all over him." Hinata stated while looking at her crazed obsessed sister. She couldn't help but laugh since Sasuke was desperately trying to scrape Hanabi off of him. She was now on her knees clinging to his leg.

"Oh Sasuke-kun you're the strongest in Konoha! We belong together! Think about it, if we were to marry we would create a bloodline like no other." Hanabi squealed.

"Get off of me or I'll drop these bags of groceries over your head." The Uchiha hissed.

"Sasuke-kun why are you carrying that stuff? You're an heir; you shouldn't have to do that!" She quickly stood up and snapped her fingers at Neji. "Carry the groceries!"

"What! Hell no, I'm not your damn servant." Neji shot back. "Stop fooling around you brat, we have to leave already so come on."

Hanabi finally let go of Sasuke and walked off after Neji. But not before she blew a kiss at Sasuke. "See you later Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke quickly moved out of the way and dodged it. 'That was too close'

Hinata finally spoke up. "Um….Sasuke-san I'm sorry about my sister. I know she can be a little over the top."

"Don't worry about it; I'm used to dealing with freaks like her. Now come on, didn't you say you had to meet Ino?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

And with that they made their way towards the Yamanaka flower shop.

-------------

"Hey Ino-chan" Hinata stated as she and Sasuke walked into the shop.

"Hinata-chan, you're finally here" Ino announced as a big smile formed on her face.

"I'm sorry I'm late it's just that we ran into a couple of people that distracted us, including your boyfriend."

"You saw Neji-kun? I haven't seen him in over 4 days. I…I...miss him" Ino stated as a slight blush formed across her face.

"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll see him soon. He told me that he's missed you too, but you know how Hanabi is." Hinata said

"Thanks Hinata-chan."

"What are best friends for….Hey um why is the store empty? I would have figured it would be full since there is only one week left till Valentines."

"Well most people order their roses weeks in advance. Of course there are always some guys who wait until the last minute to buy roses. That's why we jack up the prices on Valentines Day." Ino said while a grin came upon her face.

'Oh that's right, I always see guys in hurry and willing to pay an enormous amount of money because they forget to buy roses for their crushes."

"Why would anyone want to pay so much money for a single rose?" Sasuke interrupted.

Ino looked at Sasuke. She had forgotten that he was still there. "Sasuke-kun, why are you here anyway?"

"He offered to help me carry my groceries." Hinata noted as she walked to the counter to see some flowers.

"**Really?**" Ino asked as she looked as Sasuke up and down and then at Hinata. "That was rather nice of you Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke just ignored her and went to put the groceries on the counter next the cash register.

"So Sasuke-kun, you mean to tell me that you wouldn't pay money for a single red rose even though it would make someone happy."

"What do you mean, it's just a rose." Sasuke stated.

"It's not just a rose Sasuke-san" Hinata answered

"That's right; it's not **just** a rose. Don't you know about the Konoha tradition?" Ino added.

Sasuke remained silent.

"As usual boys are always clueless. The tradition is that on Valentines Day you confess your love using a single red rose." Ino stated

"Huh?" Sasuke still had confusion written all over his face.

Ino picked up a red rose and said, "You confess your love by giving a red rose to the one you love. If they feel the same way about you then they give you a red rose as well. But, they have to give it to you when the full moon is out during the festival. If they don't feel the same way about you then they give you a yellow rose signifying that they just want to be friends."

"But why do they have to give one back during the full moon?" Sasuke asked as his curiosity rose.

"Because as the legend goes Princess Karin gave a red rose to a Konoha shinobi that she had fallen in love with as a symbol of her love. The shinobi felt the same way and gave her a red rose with a white ribbon rapped around it during the full moon that night." Ino said as she rapped a white ribbon around the red rose and placed it in the freezer closest to her.

"Speaking of roses, I need to order some Ino-chan" mentioned Hinata.

"What kind? Red or pink?"

"Pink? I thought you only gave red and yellow roses." Sasuke asked.

"You only give red roses to confess your love but with pink roses you give them to family and friends as a symbol of family love." Hinata stated while she looked at the pink roses that were in the freezer.

"Oh" Sasuke mumbled.

"How can you now know that Sasuke-kun?" the blonde scolded.

"Well I usually try to avoid coming out of my house during Valentines Day and when I did come out girls would try to give me red roses. Sometimes they would just hurl them at me. You try dodging 200 pointy roses and see if you still like roses after that."

"You mean you never received a pink rose?" Hinata interrupted.

Sasuke nodded.

"Anyways, how many pink roses do you need Hinata-chan?" the blond kunoichi asked.

"Um let me think." 'Let's see I need one for Shino, Kiba, Kureni, Ino, and Neji but maybe I should give one to…' she looked at Sasuke. He was starring rather intently at some red roses. 'Maybe I should give one to Sasuke'

Ino watched Hinata stare at Sasuke. 'Just give him one Hinata. I KNOW he'll definitely accept it' A smile formed on Ino's face as she saw Sasuke stare as some red roses. She knew what he was thinking.

'These red roses are supposed to signify love huh? But…what if she doesn't feel the same way….maybe I should just buy her a pink rose…or…" Sasuke thought

"Ok I want six pink roses." Hinata stated as she looked at other flowers around the shop.

"Ok I'll be sure to reserve them for you." Ino looked at Sasuke. "How about you Sasuke-kun? Are you going to buy a red rose?" she asked as she motioned towards Hinata.

Sasuke felt a slight blush rise in his cheeks. And luckily for him Hinata was too busy looking at some flowers to even notice what Ino had been implying.

"No thanks, I don't buy roses" The truth is he really did want to buy roses but he was embarrassed. THE Sasuke Uchiha can't be seen buying roses….it's just not how it works.

"Ok fine, but just to make sure I'll reserve one for you" Ino added as she teasingly looked form Sasuke to Hinata and from Hinata to Sasuke.

"You know, you shouldn't worry about me and roses. You should focus on you and your bf." Sasuke noted.

"Don't worry about me Sasuke-kun; I have my Valentines planned out with Neji-kun. And this year we are going to win the cutest Konoha couple."

"The what?" Sasuke questioned.

"During the valentines festival a queen and king are crowned as well as the cutest couple. I have a feeling me and Neji-kun will win this year." She turned to face Hinata. "You'll vote for us right Hinata-chan?"

"Of course I will but I doubt that Neji-nii-san will be willing to go along with actually participating in this event. Have you even asked him?"

"No, but it's because I haven't had the chance to tell him since I haven't seen him."

"Well, either way I know you and Neji-nii-san will win."

"Thanks Hinata-chan. And if we win we receive a reward of some sort. Last year the winners received a week long vacation. That would be awesome." Ino said as she started drifting off in her daydreams.

Hinata responded by smiling

"Come one Hinata, I think we should go already before any of the groceries spoil." Sasuke interrupted.

"Oh yeah, your right Sasuke-san. I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"Before you go Hinata-chan I forgot to tell you that you forgot your sweater in my house."

"Oh really?" Hinata asked

"Yeah, just go in and get, I would go get it for you but I have to watch the shop." Ino lied.

Hinata went into the Yamanaka house while Ino and Sasuke were left by themselves.

'Now that Hinata is gone I can ask him something that I had a hunch about for the longest time.' "Hey Sasuke can I ask you something?"

"Hum" was his response.

"I know you like Hinata but why don't you just tell her?" Ino wondered.

'What...why…how did she…' "I…um…I don't know what you're talking about" Sasuke stated.

"Oh so you don't like her. Well I guess that's good since that would have meant you would have had competition" the blonde stated.

"What, what do you mean?" Sasuke said as anger started to build up within him.

"Well, it's just I know at least two handsome guys who want to give Hinata a **red **rose."

Sasuke froze after that comment. 'What….who are they…I'll kill them!' "Who are they?" Sasuke casually asked resisting the urge to break something.

'Well their names are….wait why am I telling you…its not like you care."

"Tell me!" Sasuke wanted to know who they were so he could go hunt them down and rip off their faces one by one.

"I thought you didn't care?...But if you must know…." Ino was cutt off.

"Ino-chan I didn't find my sweater anywhere. Your mom said she hasn't seen it." The ex hyugaheiress noted.

"Oh my bad. I guess I must have imagined it." 'Or maybe because your sweater was never here in the first place. I just said that so I could talk to Sasuke.' Ino thought.

"Well I guess we should be going." Hinata looked at Sasuke. He was just standing there frozen and in his own little world. "Are you alright Sasuke-san?"

"Huh...Uh …Yea let's go."

"Well bye Ino-chan" she said as she walked to the exit.

"Bye Hinata-chan, **bye** Sasuke-kun" the blonde said as she added a little more emphasis on the bye. Sasuke didn't respond as he walked out the door.

'Hah….I knew that would light a fire under his butt. Maybe now he will tell Hinata how he feels.'

Just then the bell rang by the door that signified a customer. Without looking up Ino instinctively said, "Hello welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop. How may I help you today?"

"I don't know. How can you help me?" a familiar voice responded.

Ino knew that voice. She looked up and it was none other than her Neji-kun. "Neji-kun!" she yelled as she ran up to the Hyuga and hugged him.

Neji couldn't help but blush at Ino's actions. He quickly turned his head to avoid her from noticing but Ino never fails to see someone blush.

"Long time no se--?" Neji didn't' have a chance to finish his sentence due to Ino's sudden kiss. It had caught him off guard.

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**PLEASE REVIEW! I can't stress how important it is to me. Anyway, I know it had some Neji/Ino but what do you expect….they did win. Next time I promise it will be just Sasuke/Hinata unless you request a little Ino/Neji…it's up to yall.**

hyugaheiress: So Sasuke are you finally going to tell Hinata how you feel or will you let some other guy give her a **red **rose?

Sasuke: who are they….tell me so I can break their fingers one by one to prevent them from **even **giving her a rose!

hyugaheiress: Geez Sasuke I thought you said you didn't like her.

Sasuke…


	5. The New Guy

**Sorry guys for not updating sooner, it's just that I've been busy with school and other stuff ...not to mention how busy the holidays are. To tell you guys the truth laziness also played a major role in this fic's delay, but then I received a few reviews lately that really seemed to motivate me…so a thank you to you guys! Oh and to make up for my very late update I made this chapter much longer than the others…so enjoy!**

Thank you too all who reviewed, you guys freakin rock!!

_Oh and for you NejixIno fans, I have something for you; it's at the bottom of the page so when you are through reading this chapie check it out._

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto, if I did Neji would have never lost to naruto and the whole show would revolve around the prodigy hehe.

SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-

**The New Guy**

Chapter 5

"I got it!" yelled the blonde unexpectedly.

"Got what?" replied the Hyuga prodigy.

Ino was sitting on a stool behind the counter of the flower shop while Neji leaned on the front of the counter.

"I just thought of a plan!" stated the blonde excitedly.

Neji turned to face Ino. "What plan?"

"Well, I was thinking about entering us in the cutest couple event for the festival. But, now that I think about the whole Sasuke Hinata thing, maybe I should enter them instead!" Ino was imagining the whole scenario with stars in her eyes.

Neji sighed in relief. He didn't want to parade around the village as the "cutest couple"; it just wasn't what a prodigy would do. But then he thought about his cousin and the Uchiha. "There are just two problems with your plan."

Ino snapped out of her daydream. "What problems?" she asked innocently.

"One, they aren't a couple and two, the Uchiha isn't good enough for my cousin."

Ino was now playing with her hair. She was twisting a lose strand with her finger before responding with, "That's not a problem, I got that covered."

"Really now," questioned Neji as he quirked an eyebrow.

"They aren't a couple YET," Ino replied as a sly smirk swept across her face. "But trust me, by Valentines Day they **definitely** will be one." The blonde placed her elbows on the counter and balled her fist and leaned on it with her chin. "Now all we have to do is…"

"What do you mean WE," Neji inquired.

"Aww come on Neji-kun, you want your cousin to be happy right?"

The prodigy turned around to face the entrance. He didn't respond but rather seemed to be more interested in the door.

'This is going to be harder than I thought…I guess I have to use that then,' deduced the blonde. Ino got up from her stool, went around the counter, and walked right in front of Neji. With the cutest puppy dog eyes she could muster she sweetly stated, "Please Neji-kun. It would really mean a lot to me if you helped me."

'Oh no…not the puppy eyes,' the Hyuga thought. Neji sighed, "Fine I'll help."

"Yeay!" squealed Ino as she hugged her boyfriend while jumping up and down.

Neji couldn't help but smirk, he had made his girlfriend use her puppy eyes, and he secretly thought that Ino's puppy eyes were cute. He couldn't admit that aloud of course because he **was** THE Hyuga prodigy…and a prodigy just **doesn't** say something's **cute**. That's not how it works.

Ino let go of Neji. "Now all we have to do is….oh man I forgot my master plan in all the excitement." The blue eyed kunoichi began to search her mind for the plan.

"What about the other problem?" Neji asked leaning back on the counter.

Ino snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh, what other problem?"

"Does it **have** to be the Uchiha?"

"Yes!" Ino leaned on the counter. "Think about it, would you rather it be Lee-san?"

Neji imagined that scenario, Lee walking down the street holding Hinata's hand…and kissing her. Now that was scary. The thought alone made Neji mentally shudder.

"It can't be Lee. Isn't he dating the girl with the enormous forehead?"

Ino turned her head to look at Neji. "Yeah but I was just making a point."

"I see."

"Besides you want someone who will protect Hinata right...and who better than Sasuke-kun. He's strong, handsome, smart, and hails from one of the most powerful and prestigious clans in all of Konoha."

Neji looked up at the ceiling. "You forgot one thing, he's still cold hearted."

"He's not as cold hearted as he used to be…well not to Hinata that is. And Hinata is so sweet so maybe she can rub some of her sweetness off on him," replied Ino as he grabbed Neji's arm and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"So what you're saying is that Hinata-sama is tons of fun and Sasuke's no fun at all," stated Neji removing his gaze from the ceiling to his girlfriend.

"Exactly, she **completes** him."

Neji chuckled. "I guess is see your point. So what's the plan?"

"Well I kind of forgot the plan so I'll have to think of a new one. One thing's for sure though, we have to get Hinata-chan to spend time with Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah but you know I might not be able to help all the time since I have to look after Hanabi…which by the way is another obstacle in your plan."

Ino let go of Neji. "What do you mean obstacle?"

"Hanabi is obsessed with the Uchiha…she claims to be his girlfriend."

The blonde began pacing trying to think of something until she stopped. "Well I guess I'll leave her up to you." She pointed at the prodigy. "I can just ask Tenten-chan to help as well. I have to meet her later today anyway."

Neji looked at the clock. "Well I guess I better go, Hiashi wanted me to help Hanabi with her training."

"Oh," said Ino as disappointment filled her face.

Neji noticed her face and walked to the left side of the room towards a refrigerator which contained red roses. He opened the door, you would have thought he would grab a rose that was in the front, but he seemed to be searching for something else.

Ino watched on in curiosity.

By the expression on the prodigy's face one could tell he had found what he had been searching for.

Neji took out the item and as he turned around to face Ino he hid the item behind his back.

The blond just stood there, still confused as to what her boyfriend was doing.

The Hyuga walked towards the blonde and when he finally stood directly in front of her he pulled out the item from behind him forth.

Ino's eyes widened. "It's…it's….when did you…"

"Your mom let me store it in the refrigerator this morning behind all those red roses so you wouldn't find it."

A smile formed on Ino's face.

"I know it's not until tomorrow when the whole rose exchange starts but I thought I'd give it to you right now instead."

"But that isn't a rose-,"

"I know, I figured this would mean a lot more than a red rose," replied Neji as he placed the flower in Ino's hair.

The blonde's smile just grew wider.

I know what you're thinking…how can some flower mean more than a red rose. Well, it wasn't just any flower. It was…

"A sky blue flower…just like when we first met," said Ino as she felt the flower in her hair.

Neji smirked. "You know, I hate when girls cry, especially when they are as cute as you."

A blush rose across Ino's face as she remembered that day. "I'm not crying."

"I know you're not but I just thought it was appropriate to say considering the circumstance," replied Neji.

He leaned in, kissed Ino on the cheek, and whispered in her ear, "The flower matches your eyes."

And with that he turned around and headed towards the door with a smirk plastered across his face. Neji liked making Ino blush since she was usually always the one doing the teasing. He could always manage to get a reaction out of her whenever he brought up **that** day.

Ino's eyes remained glued to her boyfriend's back as he made his way out the door. Before Neji completely stepped outside he made one last statement. "I'll see you later tonight Ino-chan. Your mom invited me over for dinner." Neji then proceeded outside.

Ino finally came back to reality and stifled a giggle. "I guess that means dad's home."

Inoichi, Ino's father, hadn't been too ecstatic about his only daughter dating Neji even though he seemed to make her happy. He had always envisioned Shikamaru as his future son-in-law but unfortunately for Inoichi his daughter only saw Shikamaru as a brother figure. Fortunately for Ino her father had began to warm up to Neji after witnessing his win at a mini tournament a month ago.

The prodigy had beaten every single one of his opponents with chakra to spare. In his last match his adversary was Naruto, but unlike before, Neji arose victorious which was probably because his mind wasn't clouded with foolish nonsense of fate and destiny.

After the tournament Inoichi realized that Neji wasn't a bad guy after all. He was smart, well mannered, handsome, and one of the strongest shinobi in the entire village. He could very well protect his daughter and keep her safe from harm, and after all that was the most important thing to a father like himself. So, basically Inoichi now accepted the prodigy and whenever Mr. Yamanaka had no missions, or wasn't on the run, he would demand that Neji be invited over for dinner. I guess you could say that he warmed up to Neji a little **too** much. Ino's dad now pictured the Hyuga as his future son-in-law and no one else. In fact, Inoichi treated Neji as though he **were already** part of the family.

Sigh. "If Neji-kun is coming over for dinner I better make sure I hide my embarrassing baby pictures before dad shows them to him **again**." Ino said the last word through gritted teeth.

NejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejInoNejIno

Later that day at the tea shop…

"So what's the plan?" asked the brown haired girl who had her hair in two Chinese buns.

"Well I'm not exactly sure…but as soon as I come up with one can you help me with it?" Now it was a blonde who spoke.

Ino had met Tenten at a local teashop and the two were currently discussing the whole Sasuke Hinata situation. They were sitting on the far left side of the tea shop a few feet away from a window. The shop was pretty crowded today so they were sure people wouldn't overhear their conversation.

"Of course," answered Tenten as she adjusted herself on the chair. "I want Hinata-chan to be happy" She took a sip of her green tea. "and perhaps Sasuke is the one to bring her happiness. But are you positive that Sasuke likes her?"

"Yes I'm sure. You should have seen his reaction when I told him about two other guys giving Hinata-chan a red rose." Ino drank some of her tea.

"Well it that's the case then I am 100 percent in." Tenten took another sip of her tea. "Speaking of flowers, that's a pretty sky blue flower you have there," she stated pointing at Ino's hair.

The blonde kunoichi instantly turned cherry red.

Tenten giggled. "Neji gave that to you right. You two are so cute together."

"Yeah he gave it to me earlier today," responded a still red Ino.

"You know ever since Naruto defeated Neji, he has changed. I mean he's still cold hearted and stubborn at times but at least now he is willing to use team work rather than fight by himself. Also whenever he's near you he seems to relax more…his stoic mask disappears and he almost seems _normal_."

It was the blonde's turn to giggle. "I had no idea Neji-kun still acts stoic towards you and Lee-san." Ino played with her tea cup a minute before continuing. "But I know what you mean, Neji-kun can seem a little cold at first but when you get to know him he's really sweet."

Tenten snapped her fingers. "Hey I just realized something. Sasuke is a lot like Neji. Sasuke is really aloof, stoic, and when he looks at you it's as though he's piercing you through the heart with a dagger."

Ino thought about it for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "Well yeah I kind of guess they are alike."

"So if they are alike in this way then that means that Sasuke must be a nice guy underneath…like Neji." The weapon's mistress, now satisfied with her theory, drank some more of her tea.

"You're right!" responded the blue eyed kunoichi in an excited tone.

"This is great…we can rest assure that Hinata-chan won't end up with a cold hearted bastard." Tenten finished off the rest of her tea. "Mmm, that was delicious."

Ino took a sip of her tea but suddenly almost spat it out. She quickly swallowed it and proceeded with her revelation. "OMG! I just though of a perfect plan!"

"What is i--."

"LEE BAKA HURRY UP!" Tenten was suddenly interrupted by a loud shrill voice.

"I'm coming my lovely Sakura-chan," replied another voice.

'That … that voice…it can't be…'thought Tenten.

Ino and the weapon's mistress didn't have to look outside to know who the owner's of the voices were. The girl's voice was so loud that you could hear it all the way to the back of the tea shop. It was obviously billboard brow and Lee.

"Lee," murmured Tenten in a rather sad tone as she fiddled with her empty tea cup.

Ino noticed her friend's disappointed face.

"GOSH LEE IT'S NOT THAT MUCH STUFF TO CARRY SO HURRY UP!" yelled the very annoying, and useless, Sakura.

"I'm hurrying my beautiful cherry blossom!"

The voices seemed to be getting louder until the two appeared at the entrance of the tea shop.

"Buy me some tea," demanded forehead girl as she surveyed the right side of the shop. "NOW!" she added when she saw Lee wasn't moving to the counter.

"But…but Sakura-chan I have no money left. I spent it all on these clothes that I bought for you earlier."

Poor Lee had been carrying thirty shopping bags. Even for the taijutsu master this was a lot. The bags were filled high with very expensive brand name clothes. Sakura had dragged Lee all over Konoha and demanded that he buy her clothes. Lee, being the sucker that he is for her, (although I don't know why, Lee deserves so much better.) fulfilled each and every one of billboard brow's wishes.

"I DON'T care. Now buy me some tea!" Sakura brushed her hair aside with the flick of her hand. "Oh and Lee-**kun**," she began to caress his arm. "Can we go to another store after this? You see I'm going to need new shoes to go along with these new outfits," she added sweetly.

Lee almost melted right there on the spot. "Your wish is my command Sakura-chan."

"Good now go get me some tea."

"Ok." Lee made his way towards the counter carefully, making sure he didn't fall with all those bags. "I guess I can put it on my tab…then I can take on extra missions to pay for the shoes she wants to buy."

Ino looked on in disgust. Sakura could be so manipulative…and to think they were once best friends. Tenten on the other hand looked hurt and angered at the same time.

Sakura remained standing there as she continued to survey the rest of the tea shop. She then spotted Ino and Tenten. 'Tenten…just the person I was looking for.' She made her way towards the two kunoichi.

"Great she's coming over here," murmured Ino.

Before the weapons mistress could respond Sakura had reached their table and now stood directly in front of them.

"Hello **Tenten**," stated billboard brow with emphasis on her name. "And Ino pig."

The blonde ignored Sakura's acknowledgment and took another sip of her tea.

"So Tenten how have you been, I've been doing well. Lee-**kun **bought me a lot of clothes today because he totally **adores** me."

Tenten's gaze remained on the tea cup. She refused to even glance at Sakura.

Ino, noticing this, spoke up. "What do you want billboard brow. If you have nothing important to say then _leave_, can't you see we are trying to enjoy our tea."

"Don't get all mad Ino pig. I was merely stating that my **boyfriend** Lee-kun and I were enjoying a nice day out."

"Nice day out…yeah right, you were screaming like a psycho a few minutes ago," murmured the blonde.

"What?" asked Sakura

"I said no one needs to know, or cares, about your day forehead."

"I'm sure Tenten wants to know," she stated evilly.

The weapons mistress balled her fist on her knee. She was getting really annoyed by Sakura's comments but she wasn't about to let it get to her and give Sakura the satisfaction that it was bugging her.

"Besides I'm giving you both the opportunity to see the future King and Queen of the festival."

"You? Queen? Ha, don't make me laugh billboard brow," replied Ino.

"You're just jealous because I'm the prettiest kunoichi in the entire village."

"More like the most deformed," Ino shot back.

Sakura shot Ino a death glare. It is then when she noticed the flower in Ino's hair.

"Who gave you that **ugly** flower? Well then again the **ugly** flower matches your **ugly **face," snickered Sakura.

Ino remained calm, acting as if it didn't bother her, and took another sip of her tea.

Sakura was getting annoyed. She couldn't get a reaction out of Ino or Tenten for that matter. Then she thought of the perfect remark. "I bet it was that loser boyfriend of yours."

The blonde stiffened at the comment.

Sakura smirked but it was quickly swiped from her face. "Ahhh!" she shrieked.

"Oops," responded Ino. She had "accidentally" spilled her tea cup over and it "accidentally" wet Sakura.

Sakura's eyes filled with anger. "Well at least _my boyfriend_ Lee knows how to give gifts, unlike your cold hearted bastard of a boyfriend. I mean what kind of person gives a stupid sky blue flower!"

Ino had enough! She suddenly rose from her seat so fast that lighting couldn't compare to her quickness. "You can say what ever you want about me but **don't you dare** drag Neji-kun into this," stated Ino through gritted teeth.

"I'm just stating the obvious. Neji is as much of a loser as Lee and a--."

"That's enough Sakura!" Tenten suddenly blurted out. She finally managed to speak up after getting _annoyed_ by Sakura's rambling.

"No it's not enough! Not until you realize that Lee-**kun** will **never** love you as much as he **loves me**!"

Tenten's eyes widened. She was completely taken aback by that statement.

A smirk spread across Sakura's face which only fueled Tenten's deep anger. She was getting so angry in fact that she lifted up her fist and was about to swing at forehead girl until Ino beat her to the punch…literally.

Sakura's face was met with Ino's fist in a head on collision. "You bitch, you've had that coming for a long time!" yelled Ino.

Sakura, who was now on the floor, held her nose with her right hand since it had began to bleed.

The whole teashop seemed to freeze. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the three kunoichis.

"You're such a manipulative, egotistical, self-centered slut. Why is it that you like to take other girls' guys?! When you found out that I liked Sasuke-kun you grew even more persistent in making him yours, which failed by the way since he hates your guts. Then when I started dating Neji-kun you tried to steal him away from me by throwing yourself at him, which also failed since you completely disgust him. After that you went after Naruto _even though_ **you knew** that Hinata-chan liked him. You even made out with him in front of her! When Naruto out served his usefulness you disposed of him, while breaking Hinata-chan's heart in the process, and moved on to Lee after you found out that Tenten-chan had a crush on him!"

Everyone in the tea shop began snickering about what the blonde had just said. Some pointed and laughed while other girls gave her a look of disgust. Sakura just sat on the floor, confused as to what to do, while also trying to stop the bleeding.

Ino just stood there huffing; the speech seemed to take a lot out of her. She turned her head to look at Tenten, who in return nodded.

Tenten twirled around to the table next to her, grabbed the tea cup full of tea, turned back around, kneeled down, and before Sakura realized what was happening Tenten threw the hot steaming tea right in her face.

"AHHHHHH!"

"Don't you ever call Lee and Neji losers, or any of my friends for that matter, because the only loser around here is _you_!" And with this said she walked off towards the exit followed by the blonde kunoichi, leaving everyone shocked and amused.

No one around seemed to notice or care that Sakura was hurt ,so when Tenten and Ino were out of the shop, they resumed back to their conversations and drank their tea. It wasn't until Lee, who had been in the restroom this entire time, saw Sakura on the floor that he rushed to help her.

"My sweet Sakura-chan! Don't worry, the handsome devil of the leaf village is here!" He then did his signature pose with his thumb in the air while his teeth did a slight ping. This just caused everyone to sweat drop.

Outdside…

"Thanks Ino-chan."

The two kunoichi were walking down the road headed to no particular direction.

"Don't mention it, she had it coming anyways."

"It's just, it get me mad when I see Sakura take advantage of Lee." Tenten stopped walking. "He's a great guy and he doesn't deserve to be treated like that."

Ino stopped and looked back at her friend. "You know if you love him then you should fight for him."

"I…uh…well...you see…"

The blonde made her way towards Tenten. "You should give him a red rose too." Ino smiled. "I'll bet he'll like it."

"I don't know…"

"I know, how about we make this a part of you Sasuke Hinata plan too," stated Ino excitedly.

"Really?" asked Tenten.

Ino nodded.

A smile formed on Tenten's lips. "I'll go home to think of a plan right away."

The two bid their farewells and headed off in opposite directions.

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2 days later…

Operation red rose was now underway, although it was a little difficult to proceed with since Sasuke wasn't cooperating. For the past two days Ino and Tenten had been sticking to Hinata like glue. They would drag her all over town trying to "accidentally" bump in to the Uchiha. When they did, Ino would casually ask Sasuke if he wanted to join them, which would have been the perfect opportune for him to spend more time with Hinata. However, the rave haired shinobi refused each time, stating he had something better to do. It was now day 2 of the operation and Ino and Tenten were getting tired of giving the Uchiha opportunities and help if he wasn't going to use it to his advantage. Something was up and the girls wanted to get to the bottom of it so they went out in search for Sasuke.

"Where could he be?" Ino and Tenten were walking through the town square and headed to the area surrounding the weapon shop. They had checked his house and the training grounds, they had even asked Kakashi about his whereabouts, but he was no where to be found.

Tenten sighed. "Maybe we should just give up." Right after she said this the two turned the corner of the weapon shop and bumped directly into the Uchiha.

Upon impact they heard a grunt and an ow form Tenten. She had fallen on the ground.

Ino looked at the Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun we've been looking everywhere for you."

Sasuke didn't respond and continued to look at both of them.

Tenten got up from the ground. "Geesh Sasuke you could at least say something."

Sasuke ignored her comment and turned around to leave. As he was walking away he suddenly froze due to the blonde's comment.

"Wait Sasuke-kun, we came here to talk to you about Hinata-chan." 'I knew that would catch his attention.'

Sasuke stood still, as if he was mentally debating himself about something, before he continued to walk away.

"God Sasuke stop acting like you don't care! We all know that you like Hinata-chan! We're trying to help you here!" yelled Tenten.

Sasuke stopped walking.

"Look Sasuke, we're just trying to help both of you, so you can both be happy," Ino calmly stated. "But we need to know if you're _serious_ about Hinata-chan, because if you _aren't_ then we won't waste our time on a hopeless cause."

"If that _is_ the case then we'll find her _someone_ _else_," interrupted Tenten.

Hearing the word _someone else_ was like a knife piercing Sasuke's heart. He couldn't bare the thought of someone else with his Hinata. Before he could respond he was beaten by the loud shrill voices of a group of girls.

SHREEK! "What?! NO!" The noise was coming from the street behind the weapon shop.

"Is it true? Is he really your boyfriend, Hinata-chan?!"

"Did… they… just…" Ino was shocked by the girls' statement, so shocked that she couldn't form a complete sentence.

"say…Hinata-chan?" Tenten was equally shocked.

Both girls quickly rushed to the fence behind the shop to see if it was truly Hinata. Their jobs dropped to the floor at what they saw.

Their reaction made Sasuke nervous. He calmly made his way towards the two girls even though on the inside he was uneasy.

He stood behind the girls and peered out into the street. His eyes widened. There stood Hinata, in front of a dumpling shop, with a guy's arm draped on her shoulder and a group of screaming girls surrounding them.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed on the guy, the Uchiha looked as though he were about to snap the guy's neck off.

"Wow." Tenten placed her left hand on her cheek. "He's pretty cute."

Sasuke's gaze turned towards Tenten.

"I...uh…I mean not as handsome as you," stated Tenten nervously.

"It doesn't matter if he's cutter or not," interrupted Ino. "You know Hinata-chan doesn't care about looks, I mean just look at who she had a crush on for most of her childhood."

Sasuke turned his gaze toward the blonde.

"Hinata-chan cares about what's on the inside," continued Ino as she placed her hand on her chest. "She sees a person based on what they have on the inside, not the outside."

The Uchiha turned to look at the guy once more. 'Who the hell is this guy?'

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Earlier that day….

"I wonder where Ino-chan and Tenten-chan are?" the ex-Hyuga heiress asked aloud. She was walking around the town square in hopes of finding her two friends. "This is so weird, for the past two days they were everywhere I turned and now they're nowhere to be found."

Hinata made her way towards her best friend's flower shop.

A few minutes later she stood in the Yamanaka flower shop asking Ino's mother where her daughter had gone. She stated that she didn't know so Hinata bid her a farewell and walked outside. However, as soon as she did, she was knocked to the ground.

"Oh I'm sorry."

"That…that's ok," responded Hinata as she felt someone helping her up. As soon as she was up she dusted herself off and looked at the person who had knocked her down.

It was a guy, an unfamiliar guy at that. She had never seen this person around the village.

"I'm sorry again, I guess I wasn't looking where I was going," the guy bashfully laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "It's just I was trying to run away form a group of girls who were chasing me."

Hinata surveyed the guy. He looked to be about 16yrs. of age with black slick hair. His bangs completely covered his right eye while his left eye remained showing. On the left side of his left eye he had some bangs that slid to the side. His hair was kind of like Sasuke's except that he didn't have the raven like hair in the back. Instead, the back of his hair slid down along his neck. His eyes were a gray color and his skin was rather tanned. Instead of a forehead protector he had a thick red ribbon tied around that led all the way down and stopped right before the midway of his back. His attire consisted of a black long sleeve button down shirt that had a collar that stood up, black baggy pants, and a white sash that wrapped around his waist which held his sword. On top of this he wore a sleeveless long red coat with white lining that also had a collar that stood up. The coat had a thick white stripe that ran horizontally along the back and to the front. Hinata had to admit, he was pretty handsome. No wonder girls were chasing him.

Basically this guy had looks that could give Sasuke a run for his money. (I wanted this guy to look like Sagara Sozo, the commander of the Sekiho Army and role model of Sanosuke, from Rurouni Kenshin. I basically looked at a picture of Sagara and described him, except that I changed a few things and made him younger. Anyways if you want to see a picture of him to get a better idea of how this character looks like then go to my profile and click on the link. It will take you directly to a picture of him.)

"Are those your fan girls or something?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know, I barely moved here. I can't see how I could possibly have fan girls in just a couple of hours of living here."

"Did you barely move here this morning?"

"Yeah, my clan and I arrived early this morning. My name is Sano Satsuma by the way," he stated as he bowed.

"Nice to meet you Satsuma-san, my name is Hinata Hyuga," responded Hinata as she curtsied.

"Don't call me Satsuma-san. It's too formal."

"Oh ok Sano-san. Um...are you from _the_ Satsuma Clan. Most guys don't bow and seeing as you did well…"

Sano smiled. "Yeah I am from the Satsuma Clan and heir to the clan as well. I guess I can make the assumption that you are from the famous Hyuga Clan. Are you the heiress?... because if you are that would make things a lot easier seeing as how my family has to meet the Hyuga Clan later tonight."

Hinata lowered her gaze to the ground. "I uh….ex-Hyuga heiress."

"Oh," Sano replied. "Um since I'm new to this village how about you show me around?" he asked trying to change the subject.

Hinata smiled and looked up at Sano. "Sure."

Hinata and Sano were walking through the village; she was showing the best places to get food, the best places to shop, and so forth.

"So how do you like Konoha so far?" the lavender eyed kunoichi asked.

"Well it sure seems to have much more sociable people, especially the girls, than my other village," chuckled Sano.

Hinata giggled. "We have a lot of fan girls here so you're probably going to have to get used to them because they are going to be sticking around until you get a girlfriend."

"Really?" questioned Sano as his eyes got bigger and a stream of tears ran down his cheeks anime style. "After my encounter with that pack of girls, the girls from this village scare me."

"Well some of the girls from this village can be...um…intimidating. But you probably won't have trouble getting a girlfriend since, in case you haven't noticed, a lot of girls keep starring at you."

Sano looked around. Their was surely a large female population. He accidentally locked eye contact with a group of girls. They blew kisses at him, waved at him, and others winked at him.

Hinata laughed at his reaction, he looked scared. "My cousin also had a bunch of fan girls but as soon as he started dating Ino-chan they all went away."

Sano pouted, "That's great for him but now that all his fan girls moved on it looks like I'm their next victim."

"Hey Sano-san what village did you move from?"

"From Takigakure. The Village Hidden in a Waterfall."

"Does that mean you can use water based jutsus?"

Before Sano could answer he was beaten by shouts and screams of a pack of girls.

SHREEK! "Look at that guy with the red coat! He's such a hottie!"

Sano turned around and saw a pack of beasts, I mean girls ha-ha, running towards him. His eyes widened in horror.

"I'm going to make him my boyfriend!" yelled one girl.

The new heart throb grabbed Hinata by the arm and started running. They ran along the street until they turned a corner in to an alley. They continued to run until they turned another corner that led them to a dumpling shop.

"I think we lost them," said Sano out of breath.

"Where did he go?!"

"He went that way, I just saw him!"

"Oh crap, they're coming," stated a worried heart throb. He looked all around in hopes of finding a way out of his situation, or at least a good hiding spot. Then it hit him. "I got an idea."

"What is it?" replied the lavender eyed kunoichi.

"If you pretend to be my girlfriend for right now then they'll leave me alone," answered Sano as he glanced at the approaching pack.

Hinata couldn't help but blush. "I uh…well…"

SHREEK. "There he is!" the pack of girls ran straight up to Sano and pushed Hinata out of the way in the process.

"Here's my cell number and email!"

"Call me if you need a tour guide!"

"Can I apply to be your girlfriend?"

You could see the annoyed look on Sano's face since he was taller than all the girls. His eyes narrowed, went blank, and his mouth became just a line, anime style.

Sano pushed his way through the pack and headed towards Hinata. "Sorry ladies." He put his right arm over Hinata's right shoulder and embraced her in a side hug. "I already have one."

SHREEK! "What?! NO!"

"Is it true? Is he really your boyfriend, Hinata-chan?!" yelled one brunette.

Hinata's face turned a crimson red. "Um yeah…"

"Ahh no fair!" yelled a red head.

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Ino's eyes widened at hearing Hinata's comment. "Oh crap I was just lying about some other guys wanting to give her a red rose...I didn't know it was true," mummbled the blonde. 'But how…we were with her for the past two days…when did this happen.'

'Maybe we can use this new guy to our advantage for our plan. This is just was Sasuke needs to get him moving,' thought Tenten.

Sasuke had had enough. He felt as though his heart was shattered to pieces. After taking one last look at Sano and Hinata he turned around and walked off.

Before he could turn the corner, where he had bumped in with the two girls, Tenten grabbed his wrist. "Wait Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around to look at her. "Why should I," he responded.

Ino made her way to both them. "Because you love her."

Tenten let go of Sasuke. "Look Sasuke, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for what we just saw."

"And we are willing to find out that explanation and help you win Hinata-chan's heart," interrupted Ino. "But we need to hear it from your mouth that you love her."

Now it was Tenten's turn to interrupt. "However, if it's just some silly infatuation or a crush, then we will just encourage that guy to date Hinata-chan instead."

"So, do you love her Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned his back towards the girls. "I……"

SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-SxH-

Will Sasuke swallow his pride and admit that he loves Hinata or will his ego overpower him and make him decline Ino and Tenten's help. Dun-dun-dun

**PLEASE REVIEW!! **I hoped you like the chapie and the new character. Also sorry for any grammatical and spelling errors-I suck at that so know that I am trying my best. Oh and sorry for not having any SasukexHinata moments like I promised, it's just I don't want to rush their relationship you know…although I did include some NejixIno for you who requested it, oh and if you wanted to know what was up with the sky blue flower thing check out the bold paragraph.

**Ok for you guys who like Neji and Ino fluff I got the perfect thing. I made a oneshot just for you people. It's a side story to this fic and takes place before it as well. It's called _sky blue flowers _and is about how chibi Neji and chibi Ino first met and later on how they meet again and start dating. If you were a bit confused or wondering what the sky blue flower meant in this chapie then all will be explained in the oneshot. I actually meant to post the oneshot and this fic on the same day but I got more into the oneshot and therefore finished it earlier so I posted it a while back. Oh and before you read it know that I kind of made them too wise for their ages and also I stated that I might continue it if people wanted but I didn't realize that if I did then I would spoil this fic…so pay no mind to that…unless you have an idea on how to not spoil this fic. Anywhoo it's there if you want to check it out.**

hyugaheiress: So Sasuke are you willing to fight for Hinata or what.

Sasuke…

Ino: I need to know Sasuke…because if you're not then she can just stay with the new guy.

Tenten: Yeah because we need to move on and get Lee to come to his senses and dump Sakura.

Sasuke…

hyugaheiress: Boys can be so clueless and stubborn

Tenten: you said it.

Neji: shoots Tenten and hyugaheiress a death glare

hyugaheiress: All boys except Neji that is.


	6. Unwanted Advice for the Uchiha

**Well guys here's another chapter. Thank you for those who reviewed, your encouraging words helped me update this fic faster! Also thanks to those who read Sky Blue Flowers! Anyways hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto obviously.**

'_..'**-thoughts are italicized**_

"…"**-talking**

-------------------------------------------------------

Last time…

"And we are willing to find out that explanation and help you win Hinata-chan's heart," interrupted Ino. "But we need to hear it from your mouth that you love her."

Now it was Tenten's turn to interrupt. "However, if it's just some silly infatuation or a crush, then we will just encourage that guy to date Hinata-chan instead."

"So, do you love her Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned his back towards the girls. "I……"

-------------------------------------------------------

**Unwanted Advice for the Uchiha **

Chapter 6

"I…I…" Sasuke turned his head slightly to the left so out of the corner of his eye he could see the two kunoichis. "I…I don't know why you two keep bothering me all the damn time. Leave me the hell alone," he spat out in a cold harsh tone. With that said the Uchiha began to walk off.

"Wait Sas-," hollered Tenten before she was cut off by the blonde.

"Just leave him alone. The whole thing is still fresh in his mind," said Ino as she watched Sasuke's back grow more and more distant until he could no longer be seen. She then turned and walked back to where they had spied on Hinata.

When Ino reached the spot where they had been earlier she gripped the fence and began to analyze the "couple". The blonde's eyes were focused particularly on Sano. "So are we going to encourage that new guy or something?" questioned Tenten as she noticed who her friend's gaze was on.

"No, I still believe Sasuke-kun is willing to fight for Hinata-chan. After he gets over his damn pride he'll come seek us," replied the blue eyed kunoichi.

A smirk rose across Tenten's face. "I see." She then followed the blonde's lead and proceeded to where she was. "So I guess we're now going to find out who that new guy is," stated Tenten, her gaze now focused on Sano as well.

"Correct," replied Ino.

Both girls casually made their way towards Hinata and Sano. However, they had a hard time getting through the mob of girls that were surrounding the "couple".

"OMG!…I just saw a **shirtless **Sasuke walk that away," yelled Tenten suddenly as she pointed further down the road.

SHREEK! "What?! Really?!"

Within seconds the pack of beasts ran in the direction Tenten had pointed at. They were running a hundred miles per hour and even managed to trample some bystanders who had foolishly stood in their way.

Ino smirked. _'Good thinking Tenten-chan that was a great way to get rid of them.'_

After the dust, that the pack of beasts left while running, cleared, Hinata turned to see her two friends. "Hey guys."

"Hey Hinata-chan," responded both teenagers in unison.

Phew! "Thanks guys," spoke Sano. "I was worried they would never leave."

"No prob.," responded Tenten.

Ino eyed the position that Hinata and Sano were in. "Who's your new friend Hinata-chan?"

"Oh um…" Shades of red graced Hinata's features when she realized that Sano still had his arm draped over her shoulder. "This…this is Sano Satsuma."

Sano let go of Hinata. "That's right, my name is Sano, heir to the Satsuma Clan. Please to meet you both," he stated while bowing.

Tenten grinned, "My name is Tenten," she pointed at Ino, "and this is Ino."

"Um, don't mean to be rude by interrupting the introductions but Hinata-chan can I speak with you for a sec," interrupted Ino, grabbing the Hyuga by the arm.

Ino dragged Hinata a few feet away while Tenten stayed with Sano. "Ok Hinata-chan, spill it."

"What…what do you mean Ino-chan?" questioned Hinata in confusion.

"Well, Sano-san had his arm around you so that has to mean something." Ino placed her left hand on her hip and eyed Hinata.

Hinata felt the heat rush to her face. "Oh that well uh…"

Ino lifted her right hand in the air and slightly flipped up one finger. "And I overheard you say that he was your boyfriend."

"I...uh…well…that is…it was all just pretend." Hinata couldn't help but stutter. The way her best friend was standing made it seem like she was being accused of a crime.

"Pretend?" questioned the blonde placing her right hand on her hip as well. She quirked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Well, uh Sano-san just moved here and well a group of girls were chasing him so I pretended to be his girlfriend so that they would leave him alone," replied the exHyuga heiress in a rushed tone.

Ino sighed. _'I was all worked up over this **pretend** relationship?' _Upon realizing this, the blonde broke into a fit of laughter. _'Sasuke-kun is all mad for nothing too.'_ "Hahahaa."

Hinata just stood there, confused as to why her best friend was laughing. "Um, are you okay Ino-chan?"

Ino stopped laughing and looked at Hinata in the eye. "Huh? Oh, yeah." She turned to face where Tenten and Sano were currently talking. "Let's go back."

Hinata nodded, still a little confused as to what just happened, and followed the blonde back.

SHxSHxSH

Meanwhile with Sasuke…

"Achoo!" Sasuke rubbed his nose. _'Damn those two, why the hell do they keep bothering me,'_ the Uchiha thought, walking aimlessly around._ 'Do they even know who I am? I'm THE freakin Sasuke Uchiha! I don't need their damn help.' _He was clearly pissed off and wanted to go somewhere to clear his mind since, with every step he took, the image of that guy and Hinata kept repaying in his mind. _'Who the hell was that guy anyway?!'_ At that moment a strong gust blew in and Sasuke felt the wind pass through his hair. It sent chills down his spine, almost as though the wind was passing right through his soul. After the wind receded the Uchiha turned the corner of a pastry shop. He placed his hands in his pockets and kept his gaze straight ahead, making sure not to lock eyes with someone. That would just be a reason for someone to start a conversation and that was the last thing Sasuke needed right now. _'I know it's not a crush or infatuation, or at least I think it's not. Damn those two, Shikamaru was right, girls are troublesome.' _The truth of the matter is that Sasuke was confused but one thing was for sure: he did lo...lov...well he couldn't say it right now but, perhaps given the opportunity to tell Hinata, he would find the courage to say those three little words. _'Ok, so I can't say it but if I give her a red rose then maybe…'_

After about five minutes of walking Sasuke realized someone was following him. He hadn't noticed it earlier because he was caught in the storm that was this thoughts.

"Yo, Sasuke."

The raven haired teenager turned around but didn't see anybody. _'If someone's messing with me they're going to get the crap beat out of them.'_

"Up here."

Sasuke looked up and saw none other than Kakashi Hatake crouched on a tree limb. He had his had up in the air in a greeting manor while his other hand held the infamous orange book.

"What do you want?" asked the Uchiha in a cold icy tone.

"Sasuke, I'm hurt, you don't seem really excited to see your favorite sensei," replied the grey haired Jounin with a slight pout.

"What do you want?" Sasuke coldly asked again, his gaze locked on the path straight ahead.

"That was pathetic," Kakashi replied in a bored tone.

The Uchiha's gaze shifted towards his sensei.

"I saw what happened earlier." Kakashi settled himself on the tree and leaned back. He flipped through a couple of pages of his Icha Icha Paradise before proceeding, "You couldn't say those three words."

Sasuke narrowed his gaze at Kakashi. You could actually see the hate and annoyance emitting from the raven haired shinobi's eyes.

Kakashi chuckled; he didn't seem to mind the death glare he was getting from his student. "You should have seen your face when you saw Hinata with that guy. It was priceless."

Sasuke just continued to glare at his sensei while at the same time reaching into his pocket for his kunai. Any moment now the Uchiha felt like throwing it at his teacher.

"Oh wait, you can," Kakashi added as he reached into the pocket within his vest. "I took a picture." He held the Polaroid picture between two fingers. Kakashi loved messing with his students when he was bored, especially Sasuke since he got angry more easily, because it made him feel like he accomplished something. Their reactions would always keep him entertained.

"Bastard," Sasuke muttered.

"This could come in handy when I need you to do me a favor," grinned Kakashi. "I also have one of Naruto dancing in a dress to a gay ass Hilary Duff song and another one of Sakura picking her nose. Well, actually I have a couple but let's not go into details huh." (A/N: Sorry to any of you who likes Hilary Duff, it's just I had to think of a song that no one would be caught dead dancing to in my school. Plus, I don't like her so muahahaha.)

"You're planning to blackmail me; what kind of sensei are you?"

"A very handsome one with unique teaching methods," replied the copy cat ninja. Kakashi opened his book to a certain page, took out his Red Hot Chili Peppers bookmark, and started to "read". "Now, about your dilemma…"

"What dilemma," spat Sasuke in an annoyed tone.

"I'm just trying to give you advice, seeing as I am an expert in these matters, on how to win a lady's heart."

"What are you talking about? What the hell do you know about relationships?" Sasuke shot back.

"Relationships are my expertise. How do you think I got Kurenai?" Kakashi flipped another page of his book.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed by his sensei's antics.

"Ok, first of you need to…"

"Go back to reading your perverted book," interrupted Sasuke in a flat tone as he turned around and began to leave.

"Wait, where are you going? My advice is pure gold!' stated Kakashi as he watched Sasuke walk away. "And this book is **pure** literature," he yelled at a now distant Uchiha.

Sasuke ignored his sensei's rambling and kept on walking. _'Why is everybody in my business? Why can't people just leave me alone? I don't need their advice…an Uchiha doesn't need it.' _The raven haired shinobi rubbed his hands through his hair. This "dilemma", as Kakashi put it, was starting to get to him.

The Uchiha headed home once again. Their were just five day left to Valentine's Day so he needed to come up with some sort of plan to make Hinata fall in love with him. If he succeeded, then when he attempts to give her a red rose it won't be awkward.

As he continued walking home he glanced around and started noticing that there were a lot of couples. He briefly caught a glimpse of a guy who seemed to be "confessing" his love.

The guy had a red rose held out in front of him as he slightly bowed. The girl seemed happy; her face clearly showed it since it was a bright red color. Sasuke could tell what her response would be on the day of the festival.

The Uchiha began thinking how would it be if he were to give Hinata a red rose. Should he even give her one? Maybe her reaction would be like the girl he just saw. Upon that thought Sasuke smiled inwardly.

But, then again, there was also always the possibility that she would reject him. What if that happened? He continued to survey his surroundings and came upon another guy giving a red rose. Unlike the previous girl, this new girl didn't seem too ecstatic. Her face showed sympathy but annoyance at the same time. Sasuke knew all to well, that come the night of the festival, the guy would be receiving a yellow rose.

The Uchiha grimaced at the thought of that being Hinata and himself. Just imagining this made his stomach swell up. _'Maybe I shouldn't give her a red rose….what if she doesn't feel the same way?'_ The same questions kept swirling through Sasuke's mind. All the "what ifs" and "maybes" plagued his thoughts and made his mind race, they were like cars on a race track going around and around, always with the possibility of crashing and ending in disaster.

Once more the Uchiha was engulfed within his thoughts. He was so preoccupied that he didn't realize he was walking straight into the legendary sanin Jiraiya.

"Hey watch it…" yelled Jiraiya as he turned around to see who had bumped into his back. "Oooooh Sasuke it's **you**," continued the ero sennin as a sly grin came upon his face.

Sasuke just looked at him with a blank expression. _'Why the fuck is he is he grinning like that?'_

"So Sasuke," spoke Jiraiya placing his arm over the Uchiha's shoulder to draw him closer. "I heard about your little dilemma…"

"What?" asked Sasuke in a suprised voice. He then remembered hearing the word "dilemma" before and this made his eyes narrow. _'Kakashi!_'

"You know, your problem with Hinata."

"News travels fast," grunted the teenager as his eyes twitched.

"Well nothing in this town gets passed me, especially if it involves beautiful young women," informed the perverted sanin who was now blushing madly at his own impure thoughts.

The raven haired shinobi just sweat dropped.

"Now about your dilemma, well, you've come to the right person, seeing as how I'm such a ladies' man."

"Ladies' man? Yeah right, this coming from a twisted 53 year old man who can't get a date and makes a living by writing perverted books," mumbled Sasuke under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Jiraiya.

"I said get bent," replied Sasuke through clenched teeth.

"Huh?" questioned the sanin.

"You're so old that you can't even hear anymore," uttered Sasuke.

"Who?" inquired Jiraiya once more.

"Nothing," responded the Uchiha in an annoyed tone. _'Shit this old man is starting to piss me off!'_

Well then," Jiraiya let go of Sasuke, "Kakashi told me you had trouble confessing your feelings and saying those three little words." The sanin pulled out a small notebook and pencil from his pocket. "Here, you might want to take some notes," he added giving the Uchiha the items.

Sasuke reluctantly took them.

"Ok, first thing you need to know is that those three words don't mean squat. I say "I love you" to Tsunade all the time." Jiraiya looked at Sasuke.

He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there with a blank expression.

The perverted sanin nudged the teenager, "Aren't you going to write that down?"

The Uchiha opened the notebook and pretended to write down the information. (A/N: Sasuke was actually drawing hearts with S and H in the middle…hehe...but don't tell him I told you.)

"All you need to do," Jiraiya began, " is walk straight up to Hinata, take her hand, and say: "Hey baby, I've been watching you for a while. You're the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen." Then you give her a smile like so…" Jiraiya grinned, well it was actually between a smirk and a grin. It was almost like he was thinking perverted thoughts, which was probably true. "And then you saw something like: "hey I've been meaning to ask you if it hurt…if it hurt when you fell from heaven?" After that you give her time to respond."

Sasuke just sweat dropped. _'And he's supposed to be a legendary sanin?'_

The old pervert noticed the teenager's face. "Well if you don't like that line you could say: "Have you ever been arrested?" (No.) "Well you should be -- for stealing my heart.", or you can say "Are you a surgeon? Cause you've just took my heart away!", or my personal favorite "Do you have a map? Cuz Honey, I just keep gettin lost in your eyes." I'm telling you kid, you can't go wrong with these." (A/N: lol…I do not recommend you follow Jiraiya's example by saying these corny pick up lines. I will not be resonsible for what happens if you do.)

Sasuke for once couldn't come up with a formidable response…I mean how could he with those lame pick up lines. The only thing the Uchiha managed to do was have one of his eyes twitch.

Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Ok to conclude your little confession all you have to say is…" The sanin trailed off.

The raven haired teenager noticed this. _'Maybe he dropped dead,'_ he thought with a little hope as he looked up from his notebook.

Jiraiya was just standing there with his eyes wide open, mouth gaping with drool coming out, and a trace of red along his cheeks. He seemed to be entranced by something. Sasuke turned around to see what he was gawking at. It was a red haired woman who looked to be about 25 with a black mini dress. With each movement she made Jiriya's eyes seemed to bulge even more. Any minute now it seemed as though they were about to burst from their sockets.

"Baka," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

The ero sennin suddenly elbowed the raven haired shinobi. "It's your lucky day kid, you get to see the master at work." He smoothed his hair back with his hands. "Watch and learn," the sanin added as he made his way towards the woman.

Sasuke groaned. He knew what the outcome would be…this was just a waste of time.

"Hey baby," Jiraiya spoke as he took the woman's hand. "I've had my eye on you for a while and I just got one thing to ask you: Are you a surgeon? Cause you've just took my heart away!" He began caressing the red head's arm. "So, how about you and me go som-…" He was cut off.

The sanin had pissed off the woman, so before he knew what was happening, his cheek was met with a hand. SLAP!

"Get AWAY from me you dirty old geezer!" The read head turned around to leave but Jiraiya caught her wrist.

"Wait! I just want to hold you!" He reached for her with his other hand but was stopped when the woman suddenly spattered him with pepper spray.

"AHHHHHH!"

"That's what you get you sicko!" yelled the red head as she stormed off.

Jiraiya was on the floor rolling around screaming, "It burns! It burns!"

The Uchiha couldn't help but smirk as he began to walk away. _'Finally, he already wasted too much of my time with useless crap.' _

Sasuke was on his way home once again. When he passed a garbage can the teenager threw the notebook in. _'Like I'm ever going to use his advice.' _It was true that he had spent a lot of time with the sanin. I mean it wasn't like he would ever use those corny pick lines….or would he? With every stride Sasuke took he could feel the breeze run through his hair. The sun was beginning to set and the evening chilly air was already dawning upon Konoha. After every step he completed he was getting closer to his destination.

Suddenly he stopped. "What do you want."

"Ha ha ha Sasuke, you spotted me with your YOUTHFUL SKILLS," Gai sensei yelled out rather enthusiastically as he appeared in front of the teenager with an unusual pose. He had his left hand make a circle and place it in front of his left eye while having his right hand in the air, almost like he was dancing. "I heard that Kakashi was trying to give you advice. Don't listen to my rival, listen to me! With the ELECTRIFYING POWER OF YOUTH I will tell you more about woman!"

"Says the guy with bushy brows who's never had a girlfriend in his life," muttered Sasuke.

Gai looked at the Uchiha, he had his hands in his pockets looking rather sulky. "What are you talking about?! When I was in my PRIME YOUTH I had plenty of girlfriends!"

"Yeah imaginary ones, either that, or you paid them," spat out Sasuke under his breath.

Gai didn't catch that and continued to survey Sasuke. "I have an idea. In order to get a woman…" he whispered. The Jounin reached into his pocket for something. "You must wear this outfit!" he shouted as he took out the item that he had been reaching for. It was a green spandex suit just like the one he and Lee wears.

Sasuke's eyes widened. _'There's no way in hell I would ever wear that.' _

"Ha," Gai continued, " this will show your beautiful curves and will make everybody love you! Just like my precious student Lee!" He pointed at the suit. "You ever wonder how he got Sakura? Well it's because of this suit."

The Uchiha just turned around and walked off. There were so many things wrong with what he just said but it seemed like to much of a hassle to state them.

"Wait Sasuke, you forgot your outfit!" He ran after the teenager. "The POWER OF YOUTH will surely help you overcome your problem with Hinata!"

Sasuke's back was facing Gai so he tilted his head to the side to speak. "Is that so," responded the Uchiha in a bored tone. "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that Kakashi challenged you. Loser has to do 500 laps around Konoha."

"What?!," responded Gai as he threw the spandex suit in the air. "My rival Kakashi has challenged me, the beautiful green beast of Konoha!"

"Uh yeah, the game is hide and seek. He's hiding somewhere in town so you have to go find him."

Gai nodded and began to run towards where he had first talked to Kakashi. He suddenly stopped and turned around. "The power of youth will prevail!" He stuck his thumb out, bid Sasuke a smile, and before the Uchiha had the chance of covering his eyes he was blinded by Gai's teeth. They were shining so bright that the only thing you could hear was a 'Ping!'."

After Sasuke recovered his eyesight he realized that Gai was no longer there. The teenager let out a smirk, _'Ha, I knew that would make him leave me alone. He's Kakashi's problem now.'_

The raven haired shinobi once again began to head home. He was actually almost there, he only needed 3 more blocks. This had surely been a long day and with every minute that passed his anger began to rise. First it had been those two annoying girls, then it was that blackmailing sensei of his, after that is was the number one pervert Jiraiya, and last but not least the idiot of Konoha Gai. All these people had offered their help and advice but he didn't need their freakin help! Why could they just let him be?! _'Do they know who the hell they're trying to help? I'm THE Sasuke Uchiha and an Uchiha **doesn't need** or **ask** for help. We are a superior clan that can handle these types of things without people butting the fuck in.' _

Sasuke passed a couple of people who waved at him but he just shrugged it off and continued to walk. He was too infuriated to speak to anyone else. Who knew that his little problem of giving Hinata a red rose would soon escalate into a "dilemma", as everyone put it. If some other person approached him right now and offered to give him advice on how to approach his "dilemma", he swore he would beat the crap out of them. Perhaps he would do to them what he hoped to do to that guy that was with Hinata.

For the fourth time today Sasuke was once again engulfed within his thoughts. He didn't even realize that as he was turning the corner he was about to bump straight into someone.

BAM!

A grunt and an oww were heard.

Sasuke's gaze remained locked on the floor as the person who had bumped into him backed away a little. "Oh sorry dude, didn't see you there." He made his way past Sasuke.

The Uchiha looked up to see who had foolishly bumped into him. Sasuke was still mad and whoever this person was, was about to feel the wrath of the mighty Uchiha Sasuke!

His eyes widened when his gaze cam upon the person. It was the guy who had had his arm draped around Hinata earlier!

The guy continued to walk away as if nothing had happened. This infuriated Sasuke even more. "Hey!" Sasuke spat out in the coldest and rudest way he could muster.

The guy turned around to face Sasuke. Their gazes met and Sano instantly knew their was going to be a problem. At that moment a gust of wind blew through swaying Sasuke's hair to the left. Time seemed to stop and everything went quiet.

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What will Sasuke do? Will he let his fists do all the talking or will he just let it go? Dun dun dun.

**PLEASE REVIEW!! I hoped you like the chapie guys! Also, I italicized the thoughts this time, which I haven't done in any previous chapters. Does that help or should I just go back to how it was before?**

hyugaheiress: Yeay! Kakashi came out!

Jiraiya: What about me?! I graced this chapter with my presence.

hyugaheiress: What about you? I only put you in here for comic relief you pervert.

Gai: The power of youth will prevail!...Kakashi! I found you!

Kakashi: We were never playing hide and go seek you loser.

hyugaheiress: Anyways, Sasuke don't pay attention to their advice cuz it's crappy. You should've taken Tenten and Ino up on their offer.

Sasuke: I'm THE freakin Sasuke Uchiha! I don't need anyone's help.

hyugaheiress: Well too bad cuz I'm the one writing the story so I can make you do whatever Iwant!

Sasuke: -throws a kunai at hyugaheiress- Not any more. Now that that's done, where is the new guy so I can break his fingers one by one!

Kakashi: hyugaheiress!

hyugaheiress:...

Kakashi: Uh oh, well I guess I'm the new author.


	7. Calm & Stoic or Jealous & Violent

**hyugaheiress: **Well my peeps this chapter is dedicated to **SasuHina**, who, I hope to god, didn't scream her lungs out and die over waiting for an update, lol. Thanks for motivating me by the way. Also, **Seigfreida** was the only one to notice I had used the 'best quote from Ice Age 2', so kudos to her!

**Thanks to all who reviewed, you guys kick ass! **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but I do own this computer!

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Last time, on all my children….oops I mean A rose for you….**

The Uchiha looked up to see who had foolishly bumped into him. Sasuke was still mad and whoever this person was, was about to feel the wrath of the mighty Uchiha Sasuke!

His eyes widened when his gaze came upon the person. It was the guy who had had his arm draped around Hinata earlier!

The guy continued to walk away as if nothing had happened. This infuriated Sasuke even more. "Hey!" Sasuke spat out in the coldest and rudest way he could muster.

The guy turned around to face Sasuke. Their gazes met and Sano instantly knew their was going to be a problem. At that moment a gust of wind blew through swaying Sasuke's hair to the left. Time seemed to stop and everything went quiet.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Calm & Stoic or Jealous & Violent **

Chapter 7

Sasuke clenched his fists while keeping his gaze on Sano. If it were anyone else in Sano's position they would have grimaced under the Uchiha's glare. He, on the other hand, remained calm and unaffected.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Sano sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Look dude, I'm sorry. I was kind of in a hurry and didn't see you there."

The raven haired shinobi did not respond, he simply continued to stare, resisting the urge to snap Sano's neck off. The Uchiha's stiff posture and stoic face made his moves unpredictable. Who knew what he was thinking.

This continued, for what seemed like an eternity, until Sano broke the silence.

"Um…well…this was _fun_ but I have to go. I can't keep Hinata-san and I-."

Sasuke's eyes widened upon hearing _his_ Hinata's name. "Who the hell…do you think you are," he blurted out through clenched teeth.

"Uh well, I'm Sano Satsuma, if that's what you mean."

The raven haired teenager's lip tightened and his eyes narrowed even more, if that's possible. _'Dumb bastard…trying to play smart with me.' _"You know what I mean," muttered the Uchiha in a cold tone.

"Uh, no, I don't think so…"

"You're going to regret what you did." Sasuke took a step closer towards his "rival".

"Look I said I was sorry, I didn't meant to bump into you," Sano urged.

Ssasuke's temper began to rise but despise his obvious anger his face remained calm and unreadable. "I'm not talking about that you idiot."

Sano placed his hands in the pockets of his red coat. "Well I don't know what else I could've done. I just met you right now," he replied in a-know-it-all manner.

The Uchiha reached for his holster and took out a kunai. "Do you enjoy pissing me off," Sasuke muttered as he twirled the kunai around his fingers.

"Well obviously I do since I do it without me even knowing."

The raven haired teenager clutched the kunai in his hand. "Was that supposed to be a joke, 'cause it wasn't funny."

Sano chuckled, "Well I thought it was funny."

Sasuke looked over his "rival", trying to decipher what he was thinking. This new shinobi hid his emotions well, the only thing he conveyed was a smile…and that smile of his pissed off the Uchiha even more! _'What the fuck is this guy's problem.'_

"Yeah…okay this was fun but I have to get going," informed Sano as he turned around to walk off.

"Humph," a smirk spread across Sasuke's face, "bad mistake."

"Huh?" Sano turned to face Sasuke but found he was no longer there. He then turned the other way and, in a sudden flash, Sasuke appeared directly in front of him.

They locked gazes. "You should never turn your back on me." The Uchiha motioned for Sano to look down.

The new shinobi's gaze lowered only to come upon a kunai an inch away from piercing his abdomen. Sano sighed. "Man I guess people in Konoha don't like being bumped into."

"This isn't about that you idiot," the raven haired teenager growled in disgust. "I won't let you take her away and ruin everything."

Sano was now beyond puzzled. "Who's her?! The only 'her' I met so far is Hinata-san, In-."

Sasuke hardened his grip on the kunai before piercing Sano with it. "You don't really think I'm that stupid do you?"

POOF! In an instant Sano was gone, it had turned out that he had used a substitution jutsu.

"Apparently not, since you figured it out."

The Uchiha turned around and saw the new heartthrob crouching on a nearby stone wall of a house.

"Ok," began Sano, leaping off the wall, and landing in front of Sasuke, "I thi…"

He was suddenly cut off by the Uchiha's surprise movement. In the blink of an eye Sasuke was gone and then suddenly reappeared 5 inches from Sano, arm heading towards the heartthrob's face, and a sadistic smirk plastered on the Uchiha's features. The punch was just three inches form Sano's face, but was abruptly halted by a voice.

"Sano-san, wait up!"

Sasuke's eyes widened, he knew that angelic voice. It was his Hinata! The Uchiha turned his head to the left and saw none other than his lavender eyed princess coming around the corner.

The teenager quickly did a back flip and receded a few feet away from Sano. He quickly disposed of the kunai and put on his usual stoic face. The Uchiha inwardly sighed. That was close! If Hinata had caught him in that compromising position she would have surely thought he was still the ruthless, confrontational, and cold Uchiha he once was. True, he kind of still is…but Hinata didn't really need to know that.

"Sano-san, wait for us."

Sasuke place his hands across his chest and quirked an eyebrow,_ 'Us?_'

The Hyuga ran up to Sano, and stopping a foot way from him, crouched over, supporting her weight by placing her hands on her knees. She was panting from the running she had done. "Sa-no-sa-n," she stated through deep breaths, "I'm-gl-ad-I-ca-caug-ht-y-yo-you before you were far gone." Hinata regained her composure and stood up straight.

"What is it?" inquired Sano, placing his right hand on her left shoulder.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed on Sano's hand. He could just imagine breaking those fingers one by one. _'Damn I was so close to breaking his nose!'_

"Well," the exheiress began, "we figured it would be more convenient for you if we go to a coffee shop near your manor. That way you won't be late for your family's introductory dinner with the other clans of Konoha."

Sano, sensing the death glares he was receiving from Sasuke, turned towards him. _'Hmm maybe he's mad 'cause I'm ignoring him.' _"Great thinking Hinata-san." He lifted his hand to motion towards the raven haired teenager. "Uh this is my new friend."

'_Friend?!'_ Sasuke's face broke into a scowl but was quickly dismissed when Hinata turned to face him.

The Hyuga smiled, "Sasuke-san? What are you doing here?"

"His name is Sasuke?" inquired Sano.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle, "Sano-san I thought you said he was your friend. Shouldn't you have known his name?"

The new heartthrob chuckled. "Well, I was never one for introductions."

Sasuke was left speechless. His princess was actually talking to him! He hadn't talked to her since he helped her with her groceries…at least not to the extent of an actual conversation…more like just a hello and a smile.

Hinata noticed Sasuke's expression. "Sasuke-san?"

The Uchiha looked up and caught her gaze. _'Come on Sasuke, say something! Now is your time to shine!'_ The teenager took a deep breath. _'I'm __**THE**__ Uchiha Sasuke, I can do this!'_ He then made his way confidently towards Hinata.

Sasuke pushed Sano aside. "Long time no see huh Hinata?" He gave her a smirk like smile.

Hinata couldn't help but blush. Sasuke's boyish smile made her stomach flutter for some reason. The princess didn't know why however since she had never experienced this kind of feeling, not even with Naruto. "Um yeah…not since you helped me."

"Helped? Helped with what?" asked Sano curiously, making his way into the conversation.

The Uchiha secretly elbowed him in the stomach. "Just ask when you need help again ok."

Hinata nodded. "Oh, um Sasuke-san I uh didn't get to thank you properly."

"How about you just owe me a favor and we'll call it even," replied the Uchiha, boldly placing his hand on her shoulder.

That's one small step for Sasuke, and one giant leap for his proclamation of love!

The lavender eyed kunoichi smiled, "ok."

Suddenly a familiar voice pierced the air. "Hinata, Sano!"

All three turned to see who the voice belong to. Tenten was waving at them as she headed towards them, followed by the blued eyed beauty, Ino. "Did Hinata tell you our idea Sano?"

"Yeah," replied the shinobi.

Ino looked at Sasuke, and where his hand was placed, and gave him a sly smile. The Uchiha just grunted in return.

"Come on guys," Ino began, "we should get going. We have a lot to inform Sano about Konoha if he's going to live here permanently."

"Right," responded Tenten, "and warn him about the pink haired monster."

"Bye Sasuke-san," Hinata smiled. Sasuke in return reluctantly let go of her shoulder.

"Shall we?" Sano held out both his arms to Tenten and Hinata. The weapon's mistress reached out and held on to his left arm while Hinata, on the other hand, was reluctant to do so.

Sano looked at the Hyuga. "Come on Hinata-san."

The lavender eyed kunoichi couldn't help but blush as she placed her hand in his right arm.

Meanwhile Sasuke, who had watched the whole ordeal, gritted his teeth in disagreement. Veins could actually be seen popping out of the Uchiha's forehead.

The threesome had begun to walk off while the blue eyed kunoichi stayed behind. She couldn't help but laugh at the Uchiha's reaction. Ino then walked over to Sasuke and whispered, "If you decide to make a move, I reserved you a red rose remember? But I suggest you make your move fast, before _somebody else_ does." She waved her hand and walked off after the threesome.

Sasuke merely stood there, a smirk swept across his face. _'I guess I'll just have to cash in my favor earlier that I thought.' _With that goal set in the Uchiha's mind, he placed his hands in his pockets and walked off.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The next day…

Sasuke awoke the next morning with one thing set on his mind: Hinata. Today was the day he would make his feelings known and make her realize he was interested…before some other bastard made his move.

He sat up on his king size bed and stared at the navy blue colored walls. A smile formed on his handsome features. He was remembering the dream he had last night, where Hinata was his wife, and surrounding him and his wife were a bunch of little Sasuke and Hinata look-a-likes. The Uchiha snapped out of his trance and cast the dream aside. "No it wasn't a dream. That _will_ happen….eventually."

Sasuke swung his legs out of the bed and placed his feet firmly on the ground. The wooden floor was cold and sent chills up his spine, but he shrugged it off and walked towards the bathroom to take a shower. After washing himself clean he stepped out of the shower, dried himself off, got dressed in his usual attire, brushed his teeth, and moved on to his most crucial task: his hair.

Today was special so he had to make sure he looked flawless. Standing in front of the mirror, he poured some gel in his hands, rubbed them, and worked his hands through his hair to style out his signature raven hairstyle. Finally, he picked up his cologne bottle and sprayed himself a couple of times. Taking one last look in the mirror, he exited the bathroom and made his way to the kitchen.

He looked at the clock; it was 10:30 A.M. Since today was Wednesday Hinata only worked until noon. The Uchiha figured he could go and wait for her shift to be over and have lunch together. However he still had time to kill and he didn't want to go wait at the hospital this early, people could mistake him for a stalker or something…or worse, the pink haired demon could see him waiting and think he's there for her…and cling to him _all day_.

Naturally, Sasuke concluded that he could get some light training done while the clock ticked away. Taking a deep breath he opened the front door of the manor and dashed out. Within a matter of seconds red roses were thrown towards the Uchiha, some piercing the door itself. Sasuke jumped on a nearby roof and made his routine escape.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So will you?"

Ino and Sano were currently walking side by side on their way to meet Tenten at her family's weapon shop.

"Will what?" responded Sano.

"Sano-san!" The blonde stopped walking and looked at him annoyed.

Sano laughed, "Just kidding." He halted and turned around. Scratching his chin he began to make sense of the situation, "Ok so you're telling me that Sasuke likes Hinata-san but he's too stubborn to admit it."

"Correct," replied the blonde.

"And that Tenten-san has a crush on some guy named Broccoli."

"It's Rock Lee, but yes."

"And you want me to do what again?"

Ino placed her hands on her hips. "I need you to pretend to be interested in Hinata-chan while Sasuke-kun is around. However, when Lee is around, you pretend that you're into Tenten. She already knows about this so she'll play along."

Sano rubbed his hands through his hair. "Ok so Tenten-san knows but Hinata-san doesn't."

"Yes."

"Just one more question."

"Ok."

"Do I have to?"

Ino walked over to Sano and grabbed his arm. "Please?!" She added her puppy dog eyes. "You want your two friends to be happy right?"

Sano sighed. "Fine, I'll help."

"Yes," squealed the blonde as she jumped up and down in excitement.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Look Lee, I'm sorry forehead girl broke up with you, but I warned you this would happen." Neji stopped walking and looked down. "Now," he glared at Lee, "let go of my leg."

"But," Lee whimpered.

"_Let go_, unless you want to lose that arm."

The Tai jutsu master instantly let go. It turns out that he had clung on to the prodigy's leg for two blocks, while whining and crying about his break up with Sakura.

Bushy brow's eyes widened anime style as a thick line of tears ran down his face. "How could this happen, Neji? How could the BRIGHT FLAMES OF YOUTH burn out?! Doesn't YOUTH mean love?!"

(The oober hot) Neji looked on in disgust at his comrade. "Pull yourself together man."

"How can I when the ELECTRIFYING POWER OF YOUTH did not prevail!"

Neji sweat dropped. "Fine, you asked for it." In a quick flash the prodigy struck Lee a blow directly in the stomach.

Lee grimaced in pain. He grabbed his stomach and looked at the ground intently. After a minute he looked up at his comrade. "Thanks, I needed that."

"No problem, now come on. You said you were going to spar with me today." The Hyuga prodigy began to walk but stopped unexpectedly.

Lee, noticing this, spoke up. "What's wrong?"

The prodigy stood still, trying to perceive the noise with his ear. "You hear that?

Lee listened closely. He could hear a girl squealing. "Hey doesn't that sound like…"

"Ino." Neji ran towards the noise, turned the corner of a bakery shop, and came upon his girlfriend squealing next to some guy.

His gaze lowered on Sano.

The tai jutsu master caught up with the Hyuga prodigy. He saw his friend's expression and turned towards what he was glaring at. "Hey who's that with Ino?"

"Not, me," stated Neji through clenched teeth, gripping the wooden fence he was standing next to.

"Uh are you ok Neji?

"Yeah, why?" The prodigy kept on his signature stoic face even though on the inside he was pissed.

Lee took a step away from his friend. "Well you seem a little _too_ calm."

"What do you mean?" The Hyuga gripped the wooden fence even tighter, causing it to suddenly break. A swarm of little wooden pieces could be seen falling towards the ground.

"Uh…N..Ne…Neji you're sc-scar-scaring me."

Neji kept his glare on Sano. "I think I'll go over there and _introduce_ myself."

Bushy brows began panicking. "Oh no, you've got that look in your eye again Neji."

The prodigy turned towards his comrade. "What look?"

"That look!" He pointed at Neji. "You always get that look when you're about to kill someone or beat him to a bloody pulp."

Neji's face remained stoic, almost as if it were cemented on there. "I don't have a look."

"Just let it go, they were only talking anyway."

Neji just stared at Lee.

"Ok, so if you saw me talking to Ino would you also want to kill me?"

"Yes."

Lee's mouth shot open. "But we were just talking!!"

"Were?" Neji quirked an eyebrow.

"No, I uh, you know what I mean." Lee stood up straight and placed his fist in the air in a heroic manner. "Besides, the POWER OF YOUTH will protect the YOUTHFUL Ino!"

"Isn't it a little too early for you two to be arguing."

Lee and Neji turned their heads towards the owner of the voice.

"Uchiha," muttered the prodigy.

"We weren't arguing…we were just discussing the power of youth!"

Sasuke gave Lee a look of annoyance.

"Uchiha," Neji broke in, "do you know that guy over there." He pointed towards his back, keeping his gaze on Sasuke.

"What guy?"

The Hyuga prodigy turned around. _'Damn, he must've left when Lee was yapping about his damn power of youth.'_

"He's gone," Lee pointed out.

"Hyuga," Sasuke waited for the prodigy to turn towards him, "judging by the look on your face, it seems you want to _have a word_ with that guy."

Neji responded in a nonchalant manner, "If you see a guy with a red coat and a sword, let me know."

'_Red coat? Sword?'_ Sasuke's eyes widened. "You're talking about Sano."

Neji's eyes narrowed. "You know him?"

"Sort of, we had a little _run in_." The raven haired teenager placed his hands in his pockets, made his way past the two, and walked off a short distance, before stopping. Without turning around the shinobi asked, "Why do you want to beat the crap out of him, Hyuga?"

"I have my reasons."

The Uchiha turned his head. "Well, after I'm done with him you can have a shot."

"Uchiha, do you have some sort of grudge against him?"

"Perhaps," replied Sasuke walking off, this time without stopping.

"Humph," Neji sneered, turning around and walking off in the opposite direction. _'I'll be damned if the Uchiha gets first dibs.'_

"Wait," Lee yelled, "where are you going Neji?"

"To meditate."

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Tenten!!" Lee broke in through the doors of his comrade's family's weapon shot screaming frantically. "Tenten!! We have a problem! Neji has that look in his eye again!! He's mediating right now and you know that means he's concocting a plan to kill…" He suddenly stopped running around after noticing the stare of one particular person. "You!!" He pointed.

"Uh do I know you?"

"Lee! It's rude to point," scolded Tenten. "Sano this is _Lee_," she stated as she motioned towards her comrade, who happened to be starring intently at Sano.

"Lee!"

"Huh, what?" The tai jutsu master broke from his staring.

Tenten motioned towards Sano. "Lee, this is Sano Satsuma."

The tai master eyed Sano suspiciously before acting in a reasonable manner. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you," replied the new heartthrob.

Lee turned to look at the weapon's mistress. "Uh Tenten I need to talk to you," he inched closer to Tenten and whispered, "about Neji…it's an em…"

"Not now Lee, can't you see I have a _guest_."

Sano was fiddling with a nearby shuriken when he heard the word '_guest_'. "Huh, oh yeah, Ahem, Tenten as I was saying…" He made his way closer towards her and draped his arm over her shoulders. "Mmm you smell good, like strawberries."

The weapon's mistress couldn't help but blush.

"So as I was saying," continued Sano, "how about we go out on a date?"

"Um," Tenten began. She looked over to see Lee staring at her with a scowl adorned on his face. "Yeah sure, I'd love to."

Lee couldn't believe it. He just merely stood there shocked, his mouth now hanging open. Poor Lee couldn't think of anything to say in this situation so he simply walked out of the store.

Sano couldn't help but chuckle. "Well he sure was shocked."

"What's going on guys? I heard screaming."

Tenten turned towards the blonde blue eyed kunoichi. "Oh that was Lee."

A sly smirk swept across Ino's face. "So, did you proceed with the plan?"

"Yeah."

Sano let go of Tenten. "You should have seen his face."

"Where were you anyways?" Tenten picked up a ninja star that had been misplaced.

"Oh I was in the storage room."

"What were you doing back there Ino?"

Ino pretended to fiddle with some nearby spears. "I uh was looking for a Kuji brand kunai 'cause I wanted to buy one for Neji-kun, but you had run out of those on the shelves so your mom told me to check the storage room."

"We ran out? I guess I need to restock those then. Oh and speaking of Neji, Lee came in here screaming abut Neji meditating and wanting to kill someone."

"I guess I better go check on him then." The blonde turned towards the door with a secret smile plastered on her face. She waved her hand as a symbol of goodbye and walked out the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

It was already 11:50. Sasuke had spent and hour and 20 minutes walking aimlessly around instead of training like he had originally planned to. All he kept thinking about was beating the crap out of Sano, and doing it before Neji got the chance to. _'Why did the Hyuga want to do so anyway?'_ This, however, was just a minor thing that was swirling through the Uchiha's mind.

The major issue that had plagued his mind was asking Hinata to eat lunch with him. What if she refused to have lunch with him? What if she doesn't feel the same way he does? What was he even going to say to her? Was she going to consider it a date?

Before Sasuke knew, he had unconsciously made his way to the hospital. He decided to wait near the brick wall that surrounded the hospital, instead of the entrance. He didn't want to look like some sort of stalker by waiting near the doors. The Uchiha ran his hands through his hair before sighing and then placing them in his pocket. He looked up at the sky for a second; it was a calm and breezy day. It was neither hot nor cold, and the sun shined just right.

The Uchiha removed his gaze from the sky and leaned against the wall. His ears were met with the sudden sound of a bell. A nearby school's clock was ringing, signifying it was now noon. Sasuke's felt his stomach swell up. Any minute now Hinata would come out of those clear doors and see him leaning against the wall. Wait, should he stand up straight or lean against the wall? Which would make him look cooler? Or should he just pretend to be passing by right when she comes out to make it look like a coincidence. That way she wouldn't think he was waiting just for her…which, in truth, he was.

Sasuke's ears then perked at the sound of a door. He peered beyond the wall and realized it was Hinata! Sasuke decided to time this; he walked a few feet away from the wall's entrance and started to walk casually to "accidentally" bump into her.

As he neared the entrance his heart began pounding. This was it, any minute now.

There she was! She was coming out of the wall's entrance, so Sasuke quickened his pace to walk right past her before she took another step.

Hinata saw someone pass in front of her. She got a glimpse of black hair. Wait, she knew who that was, it was Sasuke. "Sasuke-san?"

Upon hearing his name the Uchiha stopped and turned around. "Oh Hinata-san."

The ex Hyuga heiress walked towards him. "What are you doing on this side of town?"

"I um," Ahem, Sasuke cleared his throat, "I was going to check if you were working."

"I already finished, my shift was only until noon."

"Really," questioned Sasuke, trying to act like he did not know this information already. "I came to see you because I decided to cash in my favor."

"Right now?"

Sasuke kept on his expressionless face even though he felt his stomach turn into knots. "I finished training and you finished working right, well I'm hungry so I figured we could go to lunch."

"Lunch? Well I um..." Hinata began fidgeting with her bag.

The raven haired teenager's palms began to sweat and he felt the butterflies in his stomach go out of control._ 'Oh no, this is it…she's going to say no.'_

"Well I um," Hinata blushed in embarrassment, "I don't have any money." The ex Hyuga heiress lowered her head; she was too ashamed to look Sasuke in the eyes so she just kept her gaze on his shoes. "I don't get paid until Friday and the money that I do have I need in order to pay some bills."

The porcelain skinned beauty saw Sasuke's feet walk towards her, and before bumping into her, maneuvered past her. "Don't worry about it, it's on me."

Hinata lifted her head in retaliation and turned towards where Sasuke was walking off to. "But I can't let you do that Sasuke-san. I'm supposed to be paying _you_ back for helping _me_…it wouldn't be much of a favor if you paid and besides I'm not that hungry." As if on cue the kunoichi's stomach grumbled. Grrrrrrr! Hinata felt her blood gush towards her face as she touched her stomach, trying to quiet it.

The Uchiha stopped and turned towards her. A smile spread across his face, "You're not that hungry huh?'

"I um…"

Sasuke began to walk off again. "Hurry up, I'm hungry."

"But…" Hinata gave up and ran to catch up with Sasuke. She let him walk a few steps ahead of her. "I'll pay you back ok Sasuke-san."

"No, you won't." Sasuke scanned the area for a suitable place to eat. "I told you it was on me." He stopped walking. "Where do you want to eat lunch?"

"Wherever you want," Hinata replied, fidgeting with her bag, trying to contain the shame she felt for making Sasuke pay when she was supposed to be the one repaying the favor.

Unbeknown to our heroine this was all the more better for Sasuke. He didn't want to have Hinata pay anyway, if she would have had money he still would have paid at the end of their meal.

The kunoichi suddenly gasped when she was stunned by two possessive arms who swiftly wrapped it selves around her waist from the back. Sasuke pulled Hinata closer and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad, I told you it was on me. My favor was for you to merely be my c_ompany_ during lunch, not to _pay_ for the lunch."

Hinata felt the heat run to her face; she was beyond confused since Sasuke had never done anything like that before. She didn't know what had come over him. In truth, Sasuke didn't know either; he suddenly had felt more confident and bold. I mean come on, he _is_ **the** Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke-san?"

"San? Don't you think that's too formal, you've known me for a while now right? So call me Sasuke-kun," replied the Uchiha as he took in her sweet scent of vanilla.

"Sasuke-kun." It felt weird to call the Uchiha that but at the same time it seemed to flow naturally, as if she had always called him that. "Sasuke-kun, um what are you doing?"

The teenager inwardly smiled, it felt nice to be called "Sasuke-kun" by someone that he actually liked, not like his annoying fan girls. "Nothing Hinata-chan, I was just going to ask you where you want to eat lunch."

Before the ex-heiress could respond she was beat by another female's scream. "SASUKE-KUN!!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Damn, just when Sasuke and Hinata are so close to having their "first date" it seems someone doesn't want that to happen!..Dun dun dun. Will they succeed?! And what exactly is Ino up to??**

**hyugaheiress: Please Review!! **I hoped you liked the chapter guys, it took me a while to write this 'cause I had a writers block…but I finally finished it! I was actually originally planning to post this as a long chapter with Sasuke's and Hinata's "date" but I thought that in itself deserved a chapter of its own…that's if that 'person' doesn't ruin it!

**Sasuke**: Damn who the hell interrupted my moment with Hinata! I'll **kill** them!!!

**hyugaheiress**: I know who it is!!

**Sasuke**: TELL ME! So they can face the wrath of the mighty Uchiha Sasuke!

**Neji**: Who cares about that! Tell me who the hell was that guy with Ino-chan!! I'll 64-point hakke his ass!

**hyugaheiress**: Geesh, I thought you both were supposed to be calm and stoic not jealous and violent.


	8. First Date: A Rose or a Lily

**Whoop whoop! I'm finally able to update! Would of done it sooner it's just that gah, I'm taking Pre-Cal and U.S. Government this summer. It's hogging up all my time! Classes don't end until July 18 so I might not update until then.**

**This chapie is dedicated to:**

amyfangirl/ kenshinlover2002/ Kouketsu-chan/ ruinsage-sorceress/ oztan/ Daoshi-sama/ Hime-sama3232/ HeyoCaptainJack/ NeonAlchemist/ S-G-luver3210/ sorrowangel823/ Angel-eyes56/ meh-2-lazy-2-log-in/ kaiyurichan818/ son13/ DJ/ kibagaaralover18/ unbeatablehinata/ Seigfreida/ Joaninuwolf13/ Yenni2110/ Hyuga Hinani/ blackmoon124/ Kichou/ Hinata217/ Xerxes93/ angelkitten5679012---You guys rock!

**To**: meh-2-lazy-2-log-in—Sorry, I know you asked me to email you when I updated but you didn't tell me your email address so I had no way to contact you.

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah, I don't own Naruto and nobody here does either.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**First Date: A Rose or a Lily**

Chapter 8

"Sasuke-kunnnn!"

The Uchiha froze in position, he knew that voice, it was his other annoying fan girl. He could feel her kekkei genkai bore into him, and not to be outdone, he turned his head activating his Sharingan.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing with _her_?!" the young girl stated, adding emphasis on the last word while placing her hands on her hips in a disapproving manner.

"Can't you see I'm busy Havabu," the Uchiha hissed.

"Oh Sasuke-kun," she giggled, "you are such a kidder. You _know_ my name is Hanabi." Walking towards the male shinobi, she pulled him away from her sister. "Excuse you Hinata, but _we_ have a date," she added, pointing to Sasuke and herself.

The porcelain skinned kunoichi looked on blankly, not knowing what to say. She did however feel somewhat…disappointed? Having had the Uchiha so close had made her stomach flutter…but why?

Sasuke pried his hand away from the Hyuga heiress's grip. "You know what I wish I had right now?"

"What?" inquired Hanabi jumping up and down excitedly.

"Some rice cakes from Ichinosas."

"But that's all the way across town," the Hyuga heiress answered, clinging to his arm even tighter, slowly leading him further away from Hinata.

The Uchiha stiffened, before relaxing, masking the annoyance on his face. "Then I suggest you get going."

"Hai! I'll be back in a jiffy Sasuke-kun." Giving him one last forced hug, she ran off to fulfill her fan girl duties.

Sasuke saw her back disappear before turning around and muttering, "Good riddance." He proceeded then to walk over to his object of affection. "Sorry about that."

"Uh it's okay, after all she is my sister," replied Hinata.

"Right," answered Sasuke, "Uh come on," he added, mentally debating whether to grab Hinata's hand or not. He decided against it and instead led the way to a nearby café. _'Damn Hanabi!'_ Her interruption had caused the Uchiha to loose the surge of confidence that he had had.

The female Hyuga followed, keeping her gaze on Sasuke's back all the while, until they reached the glass doors of the café. The raven haired teenager opened the door for her and allowed her to walk in.

Said café was rather spacious and cozy with brick colored walls and modern contemporary look. There were many flowers, which Hinata seemed to enjoy, even more so when she noticed that the right side of the café had a terrace with lilies adorning the surrounding gated semi-wall.

Sasuke looked around for a place to sit. He wanted to be as far away from other people as possible; he didn't want anyone else interrupting their "date" so he led Hinata to a table near the back.

Being very uncharacteristic, Sasuke pulled the chair out for Hinata, causing her to eye him with bewilderment.

"Don't seem that astonished. I am a gentleman after all."

The ex-heiress couldn't help but giggle while taking her seat and placing her bag under the table. "Sorry, I didn't know Sasuke-kun. When I with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun they never do that."

"Well that's because they're not me." The teenager looked around the café for a waiter and sighed when they all seemed to be busy. "Besides, as I was growing up my mom used to teach me all these etiquette rules. She thought it was necessary since I was an Uchiha male from the head family. She wanted me to represent my proper and noble upbringing."

Hinata folded her hands neatly on her lap. "I guess I can understand. When I was younger my father made me take piano, art, and dance lessons. He felt that as the Heiress I should have been well refined in many areas."

Sasuke leaned back on his chair, placing his hands behind his head. "Well I guess that's what we get for growing up in such noble clans." He sighed before muttering, "Damn the waiter is taking really long."

As if on cue a waiter appeared next to their table. The guy looked to be around 17, he was tall, had spiky chestnut colored hair, stunning dark green eyes, a well defined lean body, and a dazzling smile. He was cute to say the least and when Hinata met his gaze he gave her an alluring smile.

"Finally, about damn time," Sasuke sneered. "I want..."

He was cut off when the waiter turned his back on him to grab Hinata's hand. "Wow, aren't you a cutie? What's your name beautiful?"

"Uh my name is H-Hyuga Hinata."

The waiter pulled her small hand closer to his face and planted a soft kiss on it. "Nice to meet you, my name is Kazuki Shindo and I will be _your_ waiter today."

The kunoichi couldn't help but blush at the waiter's actions. Sasuke on the other hand had begun to glare menacingly at him. Kazuki ignored the death glares he was receiving and placed his hand on Hinata's right shoulder. "Now what would you like today?" A smile formed on his handsome features. "Or how about I give you a free meal if you agree to go out on a date with me?"

Hinata had a confused and stunned look on her face. "I well uh..."

The minute Kazuki leaned in closer towards the female Hyuga; Sasuke threw a kunai at him. It flew past his face, dicing a few strands of his chestnut hair, and continued forth until it shattered a window.

"We want two specials with two green teas. Now get lost," Sasuke coldly stated.

The waiter quickly backed away and went to retrieve their order.

Their was a pause…a very long pause.

The lavender eyed princess looked down at her lap, tracing the outline of her fingernail. What else could she do? Up until the point when Kazuki had come they had had a relatively good conversation. Now she didn't know what to say…especially after Sasuke shattered the window.

The Uchiha placed his arms on the table and began to fidget with the salt shaker. He too was at a loss for words. _'Stupid Kazuki ruined my moment, trying to hit on my Hinata-chan. He's lucky I didn't rip his face off right then.' _Ceasing from playing with the salt dispenser, he ran his hands through his hair. _'Now what do I say?' _He cast a glance at Hinata; she was still looking down at her lap._ 'Maybe I should…'_ The Uchiha's left eyebrow began to twitch. _'No way! I won't resort to that! After all, their advice had been useless and corny.'_

After another minute of awkward silence he decided to speak up. _'Oh Kami I can't believe I'm actually resorting to this.'_ "Uh Hinata-chan…"

The Hyuga looked up. "Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"I've been meaning to ask you if it hurt?"

The lavender eyed kunoichi looked a little confused. "If it hurt? If what hurt?"

'_If it hurt when you fell from heaven…shit I can't say that! That's just too lame. I can't believe I even thought of saying that.'_

Hinata noticed the look on Sasuke's face. He looked to be debating whether to say what he was thinking. "Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha heir placed his elbow on the table and turned his head to lean on it. "Never mind."

To his relief their order arrived, this time by a different waiter of course. Said waiter placed their food on the table before bowing and walking away.

The silence still lingered between the two and as they ate the Uchiha survivor scrambled his brain for interesting conversation topics, but nothing came to mind. He was about to take a sip from his green tea when he noticed the lavender eyed kunoichi staring at him.

"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. I know that I am probably boring you."

Sasuke placed his cup down and looked up at her. "I'm the one who should apologize. I was the one who invited you and can't even think of a word to say."

A smile spread on Hinata's lips "How about we talk about ourselves. Anything interesting happen to you today?"

He leaned back on his chair. "I was informed that I've been nominated as Konoha's heartthrob in this year's Valentine's Day festival. Again."

Placing her finger on her chin she pondered the comment. "Oh I remember. You won last year but you weren't there to claim your prize."

In a monotone voice the Uchiha replied, "I hate public gatherings. In general, I hate the public. I didn't want to risk being mauled by my fan girls either."

The kunoichi let out a laugh. "Are they really that bad?"

"You've seen them. They're like animals, they'd stop at nothing. That's why I don't leave the manor on Valentine's Day."

"But it's really fun," Hinata protested. "There are all these fun games and delicious foods. The festival lasts all the way till three in the morning so you can come late and avoid your fan girls from seeing you."

A smirk spread across Sasuke's face. "Is that an invitation?"

"Huh? I uh." Hinata's face turned crimson red.

The Uchiha let out a chuckle before taking another sip of his tea.

For the rest of their meal they continued to have a delightful conversation, on occasions Sasuke would say things that would cause Hinata to blush. When they finished the male teenager got up, "I'll be right back."

Hinata nodded in consent and he walked off. She then focused her gaze on the empty chair in front of her. _'Sasuke-kun sure is nice. I never knew he could be so funny, he always seemed so serious but I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.'_

After a while she could not help but sigh. "Where is Sasuke-kun? He sure has been gone for a while" Taking a look around she noticed that he was nowhere in sight. "Where," she got up from her chair, "could he be?" Walking towards the entrance of the café, she scanned the area. When she looked to her right she caught a glimpse of ebony colored hair on the terrace. _'Sasuke-kun?' _She walked out towards said terrace and glanced over her surroundings.

"Looking for me?" inquired a deep male voice from behind her.

The ex-heiress spun around and came upon Sasuke. "Oh uh no, I was looking for the restroom," she laughed nervously.

The Uchiha's face was full of amusement as he quirked an eyebrow. "Outside? One the terrace? Um hum."

A slight blush formed on the porcelain skinned kunoichi. "Um.."

"Here," the shinobi stated as he thrust a flower upon Hinata, who had a perplexed look on her face. "I noticed you starting at the lilies when we came in so I bought you one." He turned around, "Now let's go, I already paid."

"Ha-Hai." Hinata ran to grab her bag and followed Sasuke outside.

Once they were outside of the café Sasuke offered to carry Hinata's bag. Of course it wasn't a frilly or girly bag 'cause then Sasuke wouldn't have offered. It was a small plain black sports bag that she used to carry her nurse's uniform and things for work.

"That's ok Sasuke-kun, you don't have to."

"I don't mind," he replied, taking the sports bag and flinging it behind his back. "Where to?"

"Aw isn't that cute. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," a familiar voice interrupted.

The male teenager's eyes narrowed. _'Not now.'_

"What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei?!" screamed another familiar voice.

Both Hinata and Sasuke turned around and came upon the clever Kakashi, hyperactive Naruto, and the Naruto-in-training Konohamaru.

"Sasuke offered to carry her bag and I presume he gave her that lily. Our little Sasuke is on his first date," the silver haired Jounin continued. Oh how he loved teasing his students, embarrassing them was what made his day.

"Oh I see," Konohamaru exclaimed. "You are one smooth operator Sasuke," he added as he gave the Uchiha sly winks.

A look of embarrassment came upon Hinata's face as her skin color turned beat red. Sasuke on the other hand had a look of annoyance on his face. "What the hell do you want Kakashi!"

"Nothing really, I was just in the neighborhood." He looked over the two teenagers, a smirk spread across his face, "And I'm glad I was. I see you solved your dilemma."

"Go. Away," replied Sasuke through gritted teeth.

"Hinata-chan!" yelled Naruto. "Are you really on a date with Sasuke-teme?!"

Her eyes widened. "Uh well…that is…" Was she on a date? She guessed in a way why they would have thought it…but was it? _'No, it couldn't be, I mean Sasuke-kun only asked me to be company during lunch…and it was to repay him for helping me that day. Right?'_

When she didn't respond with an answer Naruto became worried. "OMG, Hinata-chan! Don't fall for his tricks! Does he have you hypnotized with that evil Sharingan?!" he screamed.

"Che. I can't hypnotize anyone with my Sharingan you dobe."

"Well then why would Hinata-chan go out on a date with a teme like YOU?!"

The Uchiha just scoffed off the comment and turned around to leave.

"Hey Hinata," Kakashi spoke up, "you want to see a picture of Sasuke that I took two days ago?"

The raven haired teenager froze.

"A picture?" inquired Hinata.

Kakashi mentally laughed as he pulled out a Polaroid from inside his vest and held it between two fingers. Oh how the silver haired sensei liked black mailing his students. This was another hobby that he enjoyed. After all, how else would his groceries, cleaning, and shopping get done?

'_He wouldn't,'_ the Uchiha mentally debated. _'Damn that Kakashi!' _He clenched his fist, resisting the urge to punch his teacher right in the face. "Paper or plastic?"

"Why Sasuke, are you volunteering to buy your sensei groceries? Well if you insist." He placed the photo back in his vest. "This time make it plastic, I can use them for trash bags when Sakura cleans my apartment. This will cause her to make more runs to the dumpster. That way, all that walking will help her improve her ninja skills. "

"Ah that's a great idea Kakashi-sensei," stated Konohamaru. "I see what you are doing! By making her clean your apartment you are putting her through training. That is brilliant!"

"Yes, I know. That's just the kind of sensei I am, a very handsome one with unique teaching methods."

Sasuke couldn't help but snort upon hearing the comment.

"While we are on the topic," Kakashi added. "Naruto, my clothes are dirty."

"WHAT?! WHY ME?!

The silver haired shinobi reached into his vest.

"Oh right. I forgot."

"I'm glad you see it my way," Kakashi stated. "Now let's go so you can get started. Why don't you help him Konohamaru? This will be great training."

"Right!" yelled Konohamaru.

The Jounin turned to Hinata and smiled, "Well, have a nice _date_." With that the three shinobi walked off but not before he muttered over his shoulder, "Oh and don't forget to buy me Doritos this time Sasuke."

The raven-haired teenager grunted in return and proceeded to walk off in the opposite direction. Hinata followed suit. "Your sensei sure is interesting Sasuke-kun."

"More like a blackmailing bastard," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said where to?"

"Well we could walk around the village for a while," suggested Hinata, fiddling with the lily that she had in her right hand.

The Uchiha nodded. And so they made their way through the village, earning incredulous stares in the process. People couldn't believe what they were seeing! Was THE cold hearted and ruthless Uchiha Sasuke on a date with THE kind hearted and forgiving Hyuga Hinata?!

The kunoichi seemed oblivious to the looks they were getting however. Instead she seemed more entranced by the colorful and interesting items that market vendors were selling. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at her. She was so innocent; she was everything he was not, even though they both had miserable childhoods.

Before Sasuke could get too comfortable with the scene a guy he had never seen came up to them. Technically he came right up to Hinata since he was directly in front of her. The Hyuga looked away from the items she had been gazing at to the guy in front of her.

He had long black hair, dark brown eyes, and judging by what he was wearing, he was a chunin. He seemed like he was about to say something but bit his lip to refrain from doing so.

Sasuke eyed him suspiciously.

All of a sudden he took out a red rose from behind his back, bowed, and held it forth. "H-Hinata-chan I really, really like you. Please accept this."

Hinata's eyes widened and her mouth slightly gaped open. She was at a loss for words but, remembering the custom of the rose exchange, she took the red rose.

The guy stood up straight and smiled. He seemed really happy to get that off his chest. "I hope to hear your answer on the day of the Valentine's Festival." And with that he left as quickly as he had come.

Hinata was left standing there with a red rose in one hand and a lily in the other. The blush that had appeared during the guy's confession was still evident on her face, and Sasuke noticed this. He was fuming, both about the fact that someone had the audacity to give _his_ Hinata a _red _rose and the fact that they had made her blush as well. The Uchiha looked like someone had just taken his favorite toy away.

'_Omg, I can't believe that just happened. Gah my face feels hot.' _She felt her face._ 'I can't believe that it happened right in front of Sasuke-kun too, that was even more embarrassing!' _Taking a glance over at Sasuke, she saw him just standing there, staring intently at the ground. "Sasuke-kun, shall we go?"

He looked up from the ground and readjusted the sports bag to his left hand. "Sure lets get out of here."

No sooner had they started walking when another guy came up. He had the same look on his face as the previous guy. This time it was a red head who decided to proclaim his love. They youth bowed, placed the rose in front of him and muttered, "I really like you! Please accept this."

Once again the Hyuga blushed but before she got the chance to accept the red rose Sasuke snatched it from the guy's hands and flung it in his face.

The youth looked stunned, however it quickly faded away and his face now showed that he was pissed. He looked over at Sasuke, "Hey what the hell's your prob-." He cut short his line when he noticed the expression on Uchiha's face. It scared the crap out of him, so much so that he quickly ran away. It was the infamous Uchiha glare!

Hinata's eyes widened in disbelief at the Uchiha's actions. "Sa-Sasuke-kun, why did you do that?"

"There was a bug on his face so I thought I'd kill it for him."

"A bug? Really? Oh I see." (sweat drops-she's so naïve.)

The first guy had infuriated Sasuke and even more so since he did not do anything to stop the rose exchange from happening. He got second guy however, ha in his face! Literally!

Once again they continued to walk and once again another guy came up to proclaim his love. This time it was a blonde. He bowed, placed the rose in front of him and muttered, "I really like you Hinata! Please accept this."

Sasuke looked at the rose. "That looks fake."

The blonde looked up in disbelief. "What do you mean?! I just bought it today from the Yamanaka flower Shop!"

Sasuke grabbed the red rose and crumbled it in his hands. "Oh, I guess your right. I thought it was plastic. Here you go," he stated in an indifferent tone, handing the blonde back the pedal-less rose.

Poor blonde guy, he looked like he was about to cry. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk; that's two down! "Come one let's go," the Sharingan user exclaimed as me made his way past the blonde.

"Hai," Hinata replied before bowing to the blonde male. "Gomen but I must be going." She then proceeded to follow after Sasuke.

Once _again _they were walking. "Sasuke-kun, I think we should head home already."

'_Damn I thought we would be together a little longer. Wait, no this is for the best. If we were to stay then more of these freakin guys would give my Hinata-chan a red rose. God they're popping out like annoying flies!_' "Fine I'll walk you home."

No sooner had he finished saying this when another male teenager, this time with brown hair, approached them. As usual he bowed, placed the rose in front of him and muttered, "I love you Hinata! Please accept this."

Hinata's eyes bulged and her mouth shot open. _'Did...did he just say...'_

Wait! What? He said something completely different from the rest. He actually used the word _love_! That was the last straw, or should I say pedal!

Suddenly a familiar voice interupted the rose exchange. "Hello you YOUTHFUL teenagers, have you seen my YOUTHFUL and handsome student Lee?"

Hinata and Sasuke turned around and came upon none other than Might Gai. "No we haven't, I'm sorry," replied the Hyuga. "Perhaps…"

The Uchiha noticed that Hinata was distracted so he took this opportunity and turned to face the brown haired guy. Sasuke snatched the red rose and started plucking off the pedals one by one while saying, "She loves you, she loves you not." He plucked the last pedal, "She loves you NOT," and flung the stem at the guy. "Now get lost."

The poor guy quickly ran away, fearing he would get something more than a stem flung at him.

"Come on," the Uchiha stated as he began to walk off.

Hinata turned and saw Sasuke walking off. She quickly turned to Gai and bowed. "I'm sorry we were no help." Finishing that statement she ran to catch up to the raven haired teenager.

"Wait! Don't you want to do some light training with me? I can't find Lee, he's the one that usually does 500 laps around the village with me!"

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

"I knew I would find you here." Ino had had a very strong hunch that her boyfriend would be at this exact training spot.

The prodigy was currently sitting Indian style, had his eyes closed, and had a hand facing up on each knee, while sitting on the green grass underneath a large tree. Ino recognized that position all to well, he was clearly meditating.

"Neji-kun, stop pretending that you don't notice I'm here. I know you sensed me like a mile away," she added as she approached him from behind, leaning down and placing her arms around his neck. "Now tell me, what's this I hear about you wanting to murder somebody?"

The prodigy opened his eyes. "Who was that guy with the red coat you were talking to in the morning?"

"You always get right to the point huh, Neji-kun." She turned her head to make sure her mouth was right next to his hear. She whispered, "Well, if you must know, he's my lover."

Neji stiffened and turned his head, eyes narrowed, portraying on a cabalistic face as she smirked innocently at him. The blond kunoichi mentally giggled; Neji was possessive, as she had come to realize. After all, he had never had anything of his own before, nothing that had not been constrained by the Main Family of simply taken away without warning.

"Ah Neji-kun, you know I'm just playing." The blonde let go of Neji and took a seat beside him.

The prodigy folded his arms across his chest. "Then why were you talking to him?"

"It's all a part of operation red rose," she responded. "And so far, phase has been completed."

The Hyuga looked over at his girlfriend who was currently examining her cuticles. "Just what exactly did you do?"

She turned towards him and smiled, "Well every Wednesday your training consists of sparing so after I found out that forehead had broken up with Lee-san I knew he would come crying to you. As way to help him I figured you would ask him to spar with you. It would be a good way for him to let his frustrations out. So, I decided to be at the right place at the right time."

The prodigy stretched out one leg and brought the other one to his chest. "So is that why you were standing there with that guy?"

"I was killing two birds with one stone."

He quirked an eyebrow. "How?"

The blue eyed kunoichi crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands. "Well while we were walking to Tenten's family's weapon shop I asked Sano-san if he would help me out. He agreed to pretend to be interested in Tenten-chan while Lee-san was around and the same with Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun. We took a similar route sd yours so that when I was talking to him you would hear me. I knew you would check who I was talking to and when you did you would see me with Sano-san."

"So that's one bird?"

"Correct. The other bird got dealt with when you saw me with Sano-san. I felt certain you would get mad and try to beat the crap out of him or something. Since Lee-san was with you I knew he would try to reason with you so that's when I made my escape. You were too distracted with Lee-san to notice. Due to that you would become frustrated and most likely meditate. Lee-san of all people knows than when you meditate you either do it to reach inner piece or concoct a plan to murders someone. Thus, he would go screaming to his other teammate. I figured he would come with in a matter of seconds so when we got to the weapon shop I pretended to want to buy some kunai and made up some excuse to go to the storage room. That way, when Lee-san came he wouldn't see me there. This is also when Sano-san pretended to be into Tenten-chan to try to make Lee-san jealous…and it worked. He probably thought Sano-san was a womanizer since he was with me earlier and then Tenten-chan…so I'm certain he's going to be coming to you any time now to inform you of this.

"And you thought of all this?" He looked over at the blonde and was met with sky blue eyes.

"Well Shika helped me out but for the most part I planned everything out myself."

"Couldn't you have told me about the plan?" inquired Neji with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"If you would have known then you wouldn't have had the reaction that you did." The blonde leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I better go before your teammate comes." She stood up and said, "You're the only one I've told so now you're my partner in crime. When Lee-san comes try to help him recognize his feelings for Tenten-chan."

She walked away but stopped and turned to add some last few words. "Oh the next phase of the plan is going to be all about Sasuke-kun and Hinata-chan. I'll tell you all the details later. Bye Neji-kun." And with that the blonde left.

The prodigy lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky. _'Now what have I gotten myself into?'_

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Hinata opened the door of her apartment and turned to face the Uchiha. "Thank you for the lunch Sasuke-kun."

He nodded in acknowledgment.

The female Hyuga looked at her lily. "Oh and thank you for the flower as well. It's very beautiful."

"Even compared to that red rose?" asked Sasuke looking at the red rose she also held along with the lily.

Hinata looked at the Uchiha and smiled. "I've seen so many roses today; your lily definitely stands out."

A smirk spread across Sasuke's face. "I'm glad. He came closer towards the lavender eyed kunoichi and stood inches from her face.

Hinata could feel his breath on her skin. 'Wh...why is he so close?' She felt the heat run to her face and her stomach swell up in anticipation. 'Is…is... he going to ki…"

Before the Hyuga could think further over the matter Sasuke leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. He handed her the bag and turned around to leave. "Bye Hinata-chan, I had a good time on our _date_."

Hinata stood there all flustered and shocked as she watched Sasuke's back disappearing. She felt the nervousness in her stomach decrease and let out her breath. _'The way he was so close… I thought he…he was going to…'_

With that thought plaguing her mind, Hinata went inside and softly closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door and recalled today's events as she grabbed her cheek.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Finally their first date has happened! Now what will Sasuke do to continue to woo Hinata? And what's the next phase of Ino's plan? Tune in to the next chapter!

**hyugaheiress: Please Review!--oh and I will update 'The Bet' on thursday for those of you who asked. **

**p.s I'm looking for a beta reader...anyone interested?**


	9. Prepare to be seen as an Uchiha

**Wow, 2oo+ reviews now! I never thought I would ever get that much…I'm so happy T.T**

**Thank you so much guys (bows).**

So here you go guys, another update, although later than I had originally planned. Stuff came up, not to mention my computer got a virus. Anyways school already started so I'll be busy, meaning I don't know when I'll update.

**To the faithful readers who love the sakura bashing you'll be glad to know that there is some of that in this chapter! Haven't written some in a while so I figured I was do. **

**This chapie is dedicated to: **kRaZyChangeoFHeArt. I haven't forgotten, thanks for the encouraging words and reviews. You rock!

**Disclaimer**: Blah blah blah, you know the rest.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Last time on** _**A rose for you**_…

A smirk spread across Sasuke's face. "I'm glad." He came closer towards the lavender eyed kunoichi and stood inches from her face.

Hinata could feel his breath on her skin. '_Wh...why is he so close?_' She felt the heat run to her face and her stomach swell up in anticipation. _'Is…is... he going to ki…_'

Before the Hyuga could think further over the matter Sasuke leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. He handed her the bag and turned around to leave. "Bye Hinata-chan, I had a good time on our _date_."

Hinata stood there all flustered and shocked as she watched Sasuke's back disappearing. She felt the nervousness in her stomach decrease and let out her breath. _'The way he was so close… I thought he…he was going to…'_

With that thought plaguing her mind, Hinata went inside and softly closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door and recalled today's events as she grabbed her cheek.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Prepare to be seen as an Uchiha**

Chapter 9

"Neji! Neji!" With the exuberant power of youthful bliss Lee ran up to the big oak tree his teammate was currently sitting under. "Neji, what are you planning to do about _that guy_?!"

Cracking an eye open, the Hyuga prodigy looked over his teammate in annoyance. Why did he have to be so loud? Rethinking the situation his girlfriend had set up, and the plan he had concocted on short notice, Neji opened his other eye and settled his gaze on Lee. The Hyuga had decided on a straight forward approach...sort of. "What guy?"

The handsome devil of the leaf village jaw dropped, Neji couldn't have forgotten _that_ fast. "You know, that guy that was talking to the youthful Ino!"

Lee awaited his teammate to erupt with anger and start shouting obscenities about killing Sano…but he didn't. Neji merely dusted off a blade of grass from his knee and stated in an indifferent and calm tone, "Oh, that guy."

"Wait, why are you so…why aren't you…what do you mean '_oh that guy_'?! A couple of hours ago you wanted to kill him!"

"Did I?"

"Yes!" Lee nodded violently. "But now, in the honor of Team Gai we must take this guy out. When I went to see Tenten _he_ was there!"

"Really?" asked Neji, trying to sound interested although he had already heard this news from a certain blond.

"Yeah and," Lee disappointedly dropped his gaze to the ground, "and he asked her out on a date," he finished, with a slight sound of bitterness in his voice.

The Hyuga prodigy noticed his teammate's reaction. "And she accepted."

"Yeah," replied Lee, his gaze still on the ground.

"And you're not happy?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"What? Huh? Oh no I…" Lee quickly put on a forced smile.

Was he kidding? Did he really think he could trick the Hyuga prodigy and his long time teammate with that? Neji had to admit, it was rather weird seeing Lee in this state. He was always so full of energy and perkiness and seeing him so down was rather unusual. "Then what's the problem?"

"Well it's just…" he hesitated. He sighed violently and lifted his hands up against the side of his head in exasperation. He seemed to be stuck on what to say or whether if he had anything to say at all. "It's just I don't think he's good enough for her."

The prodigy stretched out one leg and brought the other one to his chest. Looking up at the blue sky he asked, "Are you sure that's what's really bothering you?"

Lee dropped down to the grass on his knees, pounding the floor with his fist. "Yes! He's going to hurt her, I know it!"

"I doubt that."

The tai jutsu master glanced over at the prodigy in disbelief. "He is! He was flirting with Ino one minute and then flirting with Tenten and asking her out the next."

The Hyuga's eye twitched; did he have to keep bringing up Ino's encounter with Sano?! "Hn, well I guess we have no choice." Neji stood up, dusted himself off, and took out a kunai from his pouch. "We'll just have to kill him."

Lee quickly got up from the ground and stammered, "What?! No, don't you think that's a little drastic?!"

The prodigy began twirling the kunai around his fingers. "Didn't you suggest we," he pierced the oak tree behind him with the kunai, sinking it further and further in, "_take him out_?"

"Yeah but I-''

Neji let go of the kunai and eyed him irritated. "You want to take him out, but you don't want to kill him. I think your problem isn't about him hurting her but of _you_."

"What do you mean? I don't want to hurt her!"

The Hyuga placed his arm across his chest. "Of course not, but maybe the reason you're acting all weird (well more than usual) is 'cause you're bothered by the fact that she's going out on a date with him."

"Huh?"

Neji rolled his eyes, how dense was his comrade? "You like her," he bluntly stated.

Lee's bushy eyebrows lifted in surprise and shock. "Er…uh no she's just…she's kind, smart, strong, pretty, and youthful and…"

"And you like her."

"No I –''

"Face it, you see her as more than a teammate."

Lee opened his mouth to protest but was halted by his teammate's comment.

"You.Like.Her," pointed out Neji through clenched teeth. He felt as though he were about to burst a vein on his forehead. Man, his blond girlfriend definitely owed him. She knew he wasn't good at "feelings" and such, yet she still made him do this. Well at least the prodigy was able to devise a plan that avoided any kind of sentimental crap. He merely used decisive wording to help Lee come to realization of his "feelings". Although, Neji admitted, it was getting rather irritating due to Lee being so dense.

"Now I suggest you go talk to her and tell her you like her before that guy does."

"But what about him?" inquired Lee, with a hint of displeasure.

"I'll deal with him."

Lee's eyes began to burn bright with youthful power as the handsome devil placed his arm in the air in a valiant manner. "The handsome devil of the leaf village will win the heart of the youthful and beautiful Tenten!" He cracked a big white smile, and portrayed a 'thumbs up'. A slight 'Ping' was heard.

Neji sweat dropped and began to walk away, but not before being stopped by Lee. "Thank you Neji!" he screamed, running towards the Hyuga to embrace him in a big hug.

'_WTF?!_' "What the hell are you doing?! Let go of me before I _break your arm_. Guys _don't_ hug."

Lee instantly let go of him when he noticed his comrade's anger. "Well Gai-sensei always hugs Kakashi-sensei so I figured…"

"Against his will!"

"What?

"Nothing, just save it for Tenten," uttered Neji stiffly. With that cleared, he angrily turned around and walked off. His girlfriend owed him BIG.

Phase two: Complete

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Knock. Knock

Hinata felt the door rattle and awoke from her daze. She hadn't realized she had been leaning on the door all this time! How long had she been like that? Seconds, minutes, hours?

The kunoichi felt a knock on the door again and instantly a nervous feeling filled her stomach, almost as if a swarm of butterflies had violently erupted. _'Is…is it Sasuke-kun?' _A tinge of happiness lifted her heart upon that thought.

Knock. Knock.

"Hinata-chan, are you there?"

'_Ino-chan?'_ Hinata quickly turned around and placed her hand on the doorknob. "Is that you Ino-chan?"

"Of course it's me, who else would it be?"

…_.Sasuke-kun…_

Casting the thought aside, the ex-heiress turned the knob and opened the door to reveal her best friend. "Hey Hinata-chan."

"Oh hey Ino-chan. What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be helping Tenten?"

"Yeah but she's err busy."

"Oh, well come in." Hinata stepped out of the doorway to allow the blonde to pass. Ino made her way in and sat down on the white long couch in the living room.

"So what have you been up to today?"

"Um well," Hinata closed the door and walked to the opposite couch. She sat across from her friend. "I went to work." The Hyuga nervously looked down wondering whether to tell Ino about her encounter with the Uchiha.

The blue eyed kunoichi looked over Hinata with suspicion and curiosity. "Ok, spill it."

"Wha-What?"

Ino crossed her legs and placed her arm on the armchair. "Something happened. I can tell."

"Uh I." The lavender eyed kunoichi felt the heat run to her face as the memories of today's events flooded her mind. The lunch… the roses… the lily… and the kiss.

Ino began to giggle at her best friend's reaction. "Oooooh this is gonna be good. Your face is so red, it's cute."

"Um," Hinata peeped. "Would you like some tea?" Before she could get up and go to the kitchen Ino stopped her.

"Don't try to avoid this Hinata-chan. Tell me everything." She eagerly leaned forward, wide eyed.

"Well…"

After about 15 minutes of detailed explanation and squealing from Ino, Hinata managed to finish her story without dying of embarrassment.

"Oh so that's why you're holding that lily?"

"What?" Hinata looked down and realized she was still clutching the lily in her hand. How had she not noticed?! Her head was definitely in the clouds.

"I had been wondering why you had been holding it all this time. But, now that I know that it's a symbol of your first date I-''

"Date?!" Hinata interrupted. "Do you really think it was a date?" The Hyuga looked down at her knees and turned thirteen shades of red, "He didn't call it that until he left but-''

"Of course it was," protested Ino. "Judging by everything you said….I mean he asked you to have lunch with him, which attests to him "asking you out", paid for the lunch, gave you a beautiful flower, offered to carry your stuff, which no guy offers to do unless he's trying to impress you or you ask, he also chased away other guys, and _kissed you_! This _definitely_ falls under the category of **date**."

Hinata looked up at Ino, who was now jumping up and down with excitement. "Aww this was your first date Hinata-chan! And you had a good time too!"

The ex-heiress got up from her seat and headed into the kitchen. She reached up and opened the cabinet above the kitchen sink and pulled out a small vase. She filled it with water and placed the lily in it. Taking a deep look at the flower, she pulled a strand of her long hair behind her ear and smiled. "Yeah, I did have a good time. Sasuke-kun was really nice."

Ino, who had followed her into the kitchen, stopped her victory dance abruptly and gazed with disbelief at her best friend. _'KUN? Since when has she been addressing him as kun?' _Despite this new advancement changing the next phase of her plan, she couldn't help have a big grin spread across her lips. _'This calls for a celebration!' _The blond quickly twirled around, "Hey Hinata-chan you wanna do a little shopping?"

The kunoichi turned her eyes from the lily to her best friend. "I don't have any money, I get paid until Friday," replied Hinata apologetically.

The blue eyed bombshell gave her a wink. "Don't worry, it's on me. We can go buy our kimonos for the Valentine's festival."

"Oh but I already have some."

Ino narrowed her eyes, "But those have the Hyuga crest and according to your pompous father you're no longer one. No worries though, you can just get a new one and start off fresh."

Flashing her best friend a grateful smile, Hinata said, "Ok, let's go Ino-chan."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

After the end of his big **date **with Hinata, Sasuke was now making his way back to the Uchiha compound. Bystanders walking by wouldn't think this however, the Uchiha, to them, seemed a bit lost. He was lost alright, lost in thought. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he kept replaying his date with Hinata over and over again in his head.

Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets and let out a big sigh…that kiss….

When he had stood on her doorstep he had realized just how inviting her rosy plump lips were. He wouldn't, or rather he couldn't contain himself. He had found himself slowly moving closer and closer to her, until he stood inches from her face. He had leaned in and…chickened out! He changed his mind at the last minute.

But the Uchiha had a reason of course!

Suppose he _had_ gone through with it, how would have Hinata responded? What if she had slapped him?!...or worse, never spoken to him ever again out of anger. Wait, he knew Hinata better than that, she never got angry, the way her father had always treated her was proof of that. But, she probably would have avoided him for the rest of her life….and Sasuke just couldn't have _that_, oh no.

So instead, he had turned his head and gave her a peck on the cheek.

The raven haired shinobi turned a corner and avoided nearly bumping into an unknown villager. Damn, he was thinking way too much. _'I wonder what she thought of,'_ a crooked smirk spread across his handsome face, _'our date.'_

No sooner had his heart lifted when out of the blue he heard a loud screech and felt something, or rather someone cling to his back.

"Sasuke-kun! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The male groaned, he knew who the owner of the voice was without even having to turn around. It was the person he hated the most in the world, besides Itachi that was, his stalker, Sakura Haruno. "What do you want?" he asked, in a cold tone.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched. "I was looking for you everywhere! I wanted to give you something."

The Uchiha survivor pried himself from her manly grasp. "I don't need or want anything from you," he bluntly stated, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Hahaha you're so funny Sasuke-kun!" The pink haired troll, uh I mean Sakura, pulled out a red rose from behind her back. "I got you a red rose! I know you got me one too right?!"

Sasuke eyed her as if she had lost her mind. Why would **he** ever give **her **a red rose?...he would rather give one to Naruto and have people think he was gay than give one to **her**. Hell, he would rather give a rose to the entire male rookie nine!

But that was beside the point. The only person he'd be _**willing **_to give a red rose and spill his guts to, was to a certain lavender eyed kunoichi.

"Sasuke-kun here!" she shrieked, forcing the red rose on him. "Oh Sasuke-kun I heard a _silly_ little rumor that you," she began to laugh like a hyena, "went on a date with," she roared with laughter even more, scaring the crap out of the poor unfortunate people who just happened to be passing by, "with _Hinata_."

"I did."

Sakura gasped. "But…but…but Sasuke-kun she's not good enough for you! She's ugly, plain, stupid and weak! She's a disgrace; she got kicked out of the Hyuga Clan!"

A vein nearly burst out of Sasuke's forehead. He could have practically punched Sakura right in the face. "And you're so much better?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes I am. I'm the most beautiful kunoichi in all of Konoha. That stupid Ino-pig only won last year's beauty contest 'cause she cheated!"

The male teenager looked her over, ugh she was so revolting. Her forehead was abnormally huge and grotesque, her hair was uneven, brittle, and dry with many split ends, her body was rather disturbingly manly, and her choice of clothing was gaudy and outmoded. For kami's sake she was wearing the same shirt she wore when she was 12! And she wonders why she didn't win? She was the total opposite of _her_, the girl with the porcelain skin who made his heart aflutter every time she looked at him.

"Hinata is a major freak and stupid. I'm sooooo much better for you Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke shot her a death glare, followed by a sadistic grin that was brought upon by a sudden idea. He outstretched his hand, leveled to his chest, and slowly crumpled the rose in his hand.

Sakura watched as all the red petals fell to the floor. She then felt something hit her square in the face. It was the stem. The Uchiha had flung it at her. She looked into his eyes and realized that he had activated his sharingan.

"Don't _ever_ compare yourself to Hinata-chan," growled Sasuke.

"But she's not good enough for you!" protested Sakura.

"She _is_," an amused smile spread across Sasuke's handsome face, "in fact, I'm gonna go ask her to marry me." And in a sudden flash the Uchiha was gone.

"NOOOOO! SASUKE-KUN!!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Come on Hinata-chan, let's go into this store," gestured Ino, pulling Hinata into a fairly big shop, obviously thrilled about going shopping.

The store was pretty big in size compared to rest of the stores surrounding it. It had glass doors and windows, as to allow shoppers to see what was inside, marble floors, and many manikins centered in the middle, displaying the various styles of kimonos. The store was really crowded, up to the point where the line to enter stretched a few feet outside.

Then again, what did they expect? It was Wednesday and the Valentines Festival was to be held on Saturday.

The two kunoichi formed themselves in the line. "Maybe we should go to another store?" suggested Hinata.

"But." protested Ino. "This is the best kimono store in Konoha." She looked up the line and counted the number of people. "It's not that bad anyway. There are only seven people in front of us."

All of sudden Hinata felt something wet splash her on the arm. She looked up. A blanket of cold drizzle was slowly starting to fall. "I hope the line moves quickly, before it starts to rain."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Sasuke," yelled a familiar hyperactive ninja.

The Uchiha groaned and turned around to see Naruto. "What do you want dobe?"

"Sasuke-teme you gotta help me!" screamed the blond, worry and fear evident in his voice.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow and sighed, "What did you do this time?"

"While I was washing Kakashi-sensei's laundry I accidentally ripped his favorite shirt!" The fox boy's eyes grew wide with fear. "He's gonna kill when he finds out…or worse he'll send me to train a whole week with Gai-sensei!"

The raven haired shinobi grimaced; just the thought of Gai's "light training" made his muscles ache. He sighed, "Why don't you just buy him an identical shirt loser."

"Come with me!" Naruto placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. "You have to help me find an identical shirt!"

"No," the teenager blurted out without a thought. With a single hand gesture, he swiped his comrade's arms from his shoulders.

"But Sasuke-teme!"

"No," Sasuke repeated, already walking away.

"You don't understand, the shirt I ripped was _that_ shirt."

Sasuke froze, stopping dead in his tracks. No, not _that_ shirt. Anything but that. He remembered Kakashi giving him a death glare once for even looking at _that_ shirt. From what he had heard from Naruto, the shirt involved some sort of bet dealing with poker, pakun, Gai and Asuma. _'Damn, the dobe is so stupid he'd probably pick one that isn't remotely similar to _that_ shirt…or worse he'd try making one himself. Fuck, there's no way I'm letting Naruto's stupidity screw me over by having Kakashi take this out on me too.' _"Fine, I'll help but," he began to walk towards the compound again, "I'm going to go get an umbrella."

The drizzle he had felt 5 minutes ago was now turning into heavy droplets of rain.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Wow that looks really cute on you Hinata-chan."

After a long wait in line, Ino and Hinata had managed to finally get inside and look around for kimonos. Just in time too, since five minutes later it had began to pour down hard.

Hinata looked into the mirror that she was currently standing in front of. "I don't know, Ino-chan. Isn't it a bit _too_ much?" She wanted something simpler; the light green kimono she was wearing was really extravagant, its array of mixed colors and dragon patterns seemed to overshadow the kimono's simple intended beauty. Besides, it was extremely bold, something that Hinata would never wear.

"How about this one?" inquired Ino, holding up a gorgeous baby blue kimono with a diagonal array of flowers that ran along from the bottom and stopped 5 inches from the obi. Its floor length sleeves also had a small patch of flowers centered at the right hand corner. It was the perfect furisode, it was elegent yet casual. (A/N: A furisodeis a kimono that is traditionally worn by unmarried women.)

Hinata's face filled with delight. "That's perfect. I'm going to go try it on." She got the kimono and headed towards the dressing room.

'_Now I have to find one for myself,'_ thought Ino as she walked along a row of kimono dressed manikins. She reached to touch the soft silk of the one nearest to her but was halted by a girl's whining.

"Ah it finally finished pouring outside, but now the ground is all muddy! Just look at my new shoes!"

Ino let out a soft chuckle and continued down the row until she reached an alluring butterfly printed purple kimono. _'I think I just found mine!' _

**xxxxxxxx**

"What?! What do you mean you don't have one?!" Naruto began scavenging through the piles of clothes that had been neatly folded on a shelf. "You have to have one somewhere!"

Sasuke eyed the clerk. "Are you sure you don't have one?"

The old clerk grimaced under the infamous Uchiha glare. "Nope," he peeped. "I'm sorry but I'm positive."

Scratching the back of his head, Sasuke let out a sigh. "Come on dobe. He's doesn't have what we're looking for." Naruto scurried past his comrade and made his way to the shop across the street. "If anyone asks, you didn't see us. Got it?"

The clerk timidly nodded that he understood. Sasuke followed the fox boy's lead and walked to the shop across the street. By the time the Uchiha got to the next shop piles of clothes had already been thrown across the floor. Every two minutes he would hear Naruto curse under his breath and then ten shirts would get tossed into the air.

The raven haired ninja turned to the shop owner and asked, "So do you have one or not. I don't want to waste me time."

The clerk looked puzzled. "Have what? I don't know what you are looking for. That kid," he pointed to the blond, "just came in here screaming about a shirt and started tearing up my shop."

Sasuke smacked his head. Was the dobe trying to make a scene with his frantic yells? "We're looking for…"

"I found it!" screamed Naruto, obviously thrilled. He began to do a little victory dance and cry in a comical way at the same time.

Sasuke's eyes rolled. "Just pay for the stupid shirt so we can go." The fox boy ran to the counter and pulled out his fat froggy wallet.

The Uchiha decided to wait outside. He walked out and leaned against the wall of the shop, leaving the umbrella inside with Naruto. He looked around and spotted a familiar face. Instantly his heart began to beat wildly. _'Hinata-chan?'_

She and Ino were coming out of the kimono shop. Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat.

"Thanks for buying it for me Ino-chaaaaannnnnnnn…" The ground was still wet and slippery and with one bad step Hinata found herself hurling towards the ground. Before she could hit the ground she felt someone grab the back of her shirt and jerk her forward. During that fast instant, in reaction the shopping bag slipped from her hand and flew across into the muddy ground. The sudden thump caused the kimono to swivel out of the bag and strew across the floor. Before Hinata had the chance to react, uninvolved pedestrians passing by stomped over it. The muddiness, the soles of their shoes, and sheer bad luck saw to the ripping of the beautiful new kimono.

It had all happened so quick…within seconds.

"Hinata-sama are you alright?" her savior asked.

Hinata's eyes began to fill with tears. The kimono she was staring at intently could no longer be seen through the blurriness that now filled her vision. She didn't even see when Ino walked past her and picked it up.

"Hinata-sama?"

The voice brought her back to reality. She turned to her rescuer. "Neji-niisan?"

He nodded. "Are you alright?"

Hinata shook her head softly, wiping away the tears from her eyes which she had managed not to let loose. She turned towards her best friend, gazing upon what was left of her purchase.

Ino noticed and gave her a condoling look. "We'll just get you a new one ok?"

Hinata gave her a thankful smile. "No, that's ok Ino-chan. You already spent money on this one and I wouldn't want you to waste your money on another one."

'I don't mind Hinata-chan."

The lavender eyed female shook her head no. "Maybe I can salvage it. It's only ripped in certain areas." An optimistic smile spread across her face. "All it needs is a good cleaning."

Ino smiled. "Well if you change your mind, the offer still stands." Turning towards her boyfriend, she gave him a sly wink. "Let's cheer up 'k, Neji-kun here is going to treat us to dinner."

Neji's face filled with amusement. He decided not question his girlfriend's statement. Grabbing her elbow, he pulled her towards him and whispered in her ear, "Phase one: complete."

The prodigy was further amused by her reaction. Her face filled with delight, like a child in a candy store. "I knew you could do it!"

Hinata watched the couple in confusion. _'What are they talking about?' _

Meanwhile Sasuke had felt his heart stop completely when he watched Hinata almost fall. He was ready to run for it and catch his beloved but Neji appeared suddenly and saved her. Sasuke had refrained from a scowl adorning his face, but he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. After all, he could've been her knight in shining armor.

Truth be told he just wanted to be near her.

The Uchiha had watched her reaction. The tears she was about to spill had made his stomach turn over; he felt hopeless when she cried. He had felt the sudden urge to march over there, swoop her up, and take her away from there.

But she had managed to cheer up.

Sasuke's gaze focused on the kimono. _'Perhaps it's still there…in that room…her…' _His thoughts were halted by Naruto's yell.

The loud blond was standing beside his comrade with an ecstatic smile. "Oi Sasuke-teme I got it."

The Uchiha muttered, "Ok" under his breath and turned to walk away.

Naruto scanned his surroundings and spotted the three shinobi a couple feet away. "Hey isn't that Hinata-chan?"

"Shut up," Sasuke hissed. "You don't have to be so damn loud."

Of course being the loud mouthed blond that he was caused the three to look in their direction. Hinata caught Sasuke's eyes and quickly looked away, blood gushing to her cheeks. He let out a soft amused chuckle.

"Hey guys," yelled Naruto, walking towards the group with Sasuke following.

Ino smiled inwardly. "You're just in time guys. We were about to go to get some ramen for dinner."

"Ramen?!" Naruto screamed. "We're in!" Sasuke merely shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"Ok then let's go." Ino put her arm in her boyfriend's and led the way. Neji, being the stoic person he is, seemed unaffected by her action. He had grown accustomed to his girlfriend's display of affections but despite this, a slight blush still creped along his cheeks.

Hinata smiled as she observed her cousin and best friend. Ino seemed really happy as she giggled over what her boyfriend was talking to her about. Their long silky hair, blond and black, swayed as they walked and Hinata couldn't help but notice the little things they seemed to have in common. Hinata followed behind them, with Naruto and Sasuke behind her. In a couple of steps, the raven haired teenager managed to walk along side the porcelain skinned kunoichi. "We sure seem to be seeing a lot of each other lately." He smiled that crooked smile of his. "Perhaps it's fate."

Hinata nearly hyperventilated. That crooked smile of his was mesmerizing. It was something he hardly showed, she had noticed. It wasn't like the smirks he portrayed when he had the upper hand or even a regular smile….it was much more. _'Why is my heart beating so fast?'_

The female Hyuga looked over Sasuke. He was so handsome, as she had always known, but she never realized _just_ how handsome he was. His chalky pale skin, dark onyx eyes, his features, straight, perfect, angular all seemed to be inhumanly beautiful.

Apparently Hinata hadn't noticed she was starring until Sasuke let out a soft, enchanting chuckle. In a flush of embarrassment she dropped her eyes at once. _'What's happening to me?'_

Hinata was thankful when they finally arrived at Naruto's favorite ramen stand. Of course he was the first one to sit down. However, they weren't the only ones there.

"I LOVE THE YOUTHFUL AND BEAUTIFUL TENTEN!"

"Ok Lee I kind of got it the first time," responded a very happy Tenten.

"BUT I WANT TO SHOUT IT FOR EVERYONE TO HEAR!"

Ino began to squeal with excitement, slightly tightening her grip on Neji's arm, as if saying 'You did it! They're finally going out, thank you so much!'.

"So you two are finally official huh?" asked Ino.

"Y-yeah," an embarrassed Tenten replied.

Before anyone else could comment an excited yell came from behind Tenten and Lee. "Innnnnnnnooooo-ccchhhaaannnnnnnn."

Ino looked at the male, stunned that he had been there the whole time. "Innnnnnnnooooo-ccchhhaaannnnnnnn," he yelled as he ran to her in enthusiastically in slow motion. Before he could hug her Ino kicked him on the head, slamming his head to the ground face first, making sure he couldn't peep up her skirt.

"What are you doing here Shinji?" grunted Neji, annoyance clearly in his tone.

Shinji quickly got up from the ground. "I came to visit my adorable cousin Tenten."

"Sorry guy, I forgot to tell you he was coming to town. He's only going to be here for a day or two," Tenten spoke up.

Neji pushed Shinji aside forcefully and led Ino to a seat. Shinji ignored the rude gesture and stared at Hinata. "Hiiinnnnnnaaatttttttaaaaa-ccccchhhaaaaannnnn!"

Once again he ran in slow motion with a big grin on his face towards the female Hyuga. Before he hugged her, it was Tenten who smacked him on the head. "Leave her alone."

He looked appalled. "But how can I when we were meant to be together," replied Shinji in a dramatic tone.

"How do you know her?" threatened Sasuke, eyeing Shinji. He had light skin, honey colored eyes, and brown bobbed cut hair. He was rather unusual.

Hearts filled Shinji's eyes. "She was my first love." He grabbed Hinata's hands in his, which caused her to flush. "I remember our first kiss in fact…it was when-."

He was cut short by another smack from Tenten. "Don't believe this idiot," she assured Sasuke, somewhat scared by the menacing aura he was emitting. "He always says that about cute girls." She grabbed her cousin from the ear and dragged him to where the others were sitting.

A still red Hinata followed behind. Sasuke, calming down, followed as well.

Everyone was already eating. It was Naruto on the farthest left seat, and going in a line it was Shinji, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Ino, and the last two seats were now taken by Hinata and Sasuke.

A bowl of ramen was placed in front of the female Hyuga. She picked at it with her chop sticks. Sasuke eyed her. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Um no not really."

He chuckled, "Oh I see, you're still full from our date."

Hinata's face turned scarlet, her eyes widened.

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "Or maybe it's because of that kimono that was ruined."

She groaned and turned to look at him. "You saw that?"

He nodded.

"Well I'm going to try to repair it." She looked over at the shopping bag that was under Ino's seat. She had carefully folded it and placed it in the bag. "I can hopefully still salvage it."

"Don't bother," murmured Sasuke. "I have something for you."

Hinata cocked her head in confusion.

Sasuke smiled in response, he angled his chair towards Hinata. "You'll see."

She pouted in disappointment, her eyebrows knit together. "Can't you tell me now?"

"You're just like a five year old." He sounded amused.

"Why can't you tell me?" challenged Hinata.

Ino leaned forward on the counter and looked over at the two. "It seems she's more comfortable around him," she pointed out to her boyfriend.

He looked over as well. "It seems so." He turned back to his girlfriend and placed his arm around her shoulders. "You owe me big for that," the pointed to the now official couple to the left.

Ino giggled as she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. She pulled away after a few seconds and went back to eating her ramen, leaving a stunned Neji. He obviously hadn't been expecting that.

"Come to the Uchiha compound tomorrow and you'll see." He sat forward and ate some of his ramen.

"At what time?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Noon?" she questioned.

"Sure." He ate another mouthful of ramen.

"Can't you give me a clue? I'm curious," Hinata admitted.

Sasuke swallowed, hesitant to reveal a clue but finally turned his whole body towards her and leaned in. Hinata looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that she could only stare at him like an idiot. "Prepare to be seen as an Uchiha."

Hinata pondered the statement, dazed over the turn of events. "That still doesn't help."

"I know," he muttered smugly. He got up from his seat, left some money on the counter, and murmured, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hinata watched as he walked away, annoyed that she couldn't figure out his clue and disappointed that he was leaving. Before she could further dwell over the matter, Shinji ran to sit next to her. "Hiiinnnnnaaaattttttttaaaa-cccccchhhhhhaaaannnnnnn!"

**xxxxxxxx**

Sasuke walked down the hall, his bare feet touching the cold wooden floor, sending chills up his spine. He hadn't been on this side of the manor for many years. Turning a corner he came upon an old dusty wooden door. It clearly hadn't been opened for many years.

Sasuke placed his hand on the doorknob, debating whether to go in or not. Merely touching the doorknob made his muscles tighten in anguish. He decided on the earlier and twisted the knob to open the wooden door.

The room was dark and he waited for his eyes to adjust to the setting. Finally figures were coming into view and in an instant old memories began flooding him like a raging river.

Everything he had had, loved, lost, and forgotten.

Walking further into the room the smell of dew and dust filled the air. Refusing to turn on the lights, for it would evoke further memories, he felt his way around, using only the moon light that was cascading through the window, until he came upon what he had been searching for.

He ran his hand along the old black trunk, encrusted with the Uchiha symbol.

He opened the trunk, rummaged through it and after a minute or so he felt the item he had been seeking. It was neatly folded, as he had expected, and even still equipped with the necklace _she_ use to wear. He ran his slim pale fingers along the soft item, tracing the elegant embroidery, which, he remembered, had taken a long time to complete.

Hinata would certainly be seen as an Uchiha.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**What does Sasuke mean by Hinata being seen as an Uchiha? What's the next phase of Ino's plan? And what exactly is he planning to give her? Tune in to the next chapter for the answers!**

I guess it's pretty obvious what Sasuke was looking for huh? Anywho I hoped you liked the chapter, and Tenten's cousin. I guess I've been watching to much Bleach cuz I modeled his personality after Kon..lol.

A Review would be appreaciated.


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